Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

208 reviews

avalon's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have no idea how to describe it, but Fredrik Backman's writing so perfectly encapsulates the mundane. Every character has a life, thoughts, emotions. I have never seen a book with a world that feels so perfectly imperfect and so perfectly human.
I like the way he writes like its a recollection of a past. Most books do, but Backman always adds "a few years from now she will look back at this moment" and it's such a good detail.

I wanna note that there were times that this book just completely hit me right in the chest to the point where I cried. The way he writes the ins and outs of different types of relationships is so beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

acupoftea16's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

maziodynes's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved this book until the

rape happens halfway through the book - it's hard to explain, but the town's reaction and her emotions felt too real and clinical. I know fiction isn't always intended to uplift when exploring serious topics, I didn't feel like it added anything to my own artistic explorations and knowledge. I know how badly rape cases go when the perpetrator is well loved in a small community. It only drove the knife in further and made me sad.

This put me off of the otherwise heartwarming exploration of a town and its messy dynamics and relationship with hockey, which I greatly enjoyed! the character writing was superb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

lockem18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

bottrill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

alexashabit's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

oatmilktea's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I don’t know why, but I expected this book to be lighthearted and cosy, going in. Probably because of the German title, which roughly translates to “Small Town, Big Dreams”. A bit misleading imo, but on me for not looking it up prior to reading. Also, I don't think I would have picked it up if I had known that most of the book is about SA and how the town handles it (not well. At all.), but that's also on me.

All right, let's do this. I did not really enjoy this book but I can recognise it for what it is and/or tries to achieve. The way I see it, it’s mostly a character study as well as an analysis of society, in the broadest sense. There are almost as many themes as pov characters, so, a lot: (club) hierarchies, peer pressure, esprit de corps, hush-up/rape culture, abuse of power, classism, sexism, homophobia, lynch law, child abuse… I could go on. Some themes take the spotlight, others are only touched upon, but overall there's value here.

Despite not being a fan of an omniscient narrator with an unlimited pov, especially one who keeps jumping back and forth in time and place, I thought the author handled it rather well. I may not have liked the narration style, but there were only a few characters, like Benji’s sisters, that I failed to tell apart from one another. Most characters were discrete, and I don’t think that’s easy to do.

However, I have gripes. This book is way too long. It could have easily done with a hundred pages less. It moves very slow and I get it, it’s all about the characterisation, but then the book is so repetitive in places that it added unnecessarily to the word count. Especially with the constant foreboding, ice hockey analogies, and telling-not-showing statements about friendships or how things work in this town. Because, you know, it’s Björnstad, after all, and ice hockey is ice hockey, so... cherry blossoms?

I found Bear Town intriguing enough, but for the most part I wanted to finish it for the sake of moving on to another book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Transphobia, and Death of parent

gabrielastbr's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Death, and Grief

ashleighday3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a character-heavy book, it took me a little while to get all the characters straight in my head but once I did they were so vivid and real. The pacing of the book was great, there were quick changes between all the characters' lives and it was all told in third person.
You felt like you were there in Beartown with them. There were heavy topics in the story and became frustrating in ways not because it was unrealistic, but because it was very realistic and reflective of what happens in a lot of similar cases in real life.
This is one of the most well-written books I've read in a long time, I believe I'll be thinking about this story for a long time to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism