Housing

Backman sets the novel at an apartment for sale in order to critique the housing market and public perception of housing. Throughout the novel, Backman distinguishes between purchasing housing just as investment properties and purchasing housing to act as a home. Many of the characters critique the housing market and the unaffordability of modern housing, and it is this unaffordability that drives the robber to desperation, and blame the banks for such a market. Backman uses the character of Zara to confirm that banks cause people to see houses not as homes, but as investment properties. This causes people to take on mortgages larger than they will ever be able to pay off in their life time and pushes everyone to live above their means. Backman uses Zara’s experience as a bank manager to reveal how banks have shifted public perception of housing.

Backman uses...