Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

29 reviews

roemfr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

clarrotttt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

This book has something for everyone. Something for teenagers, parents, and everyone in between. I am usually staunchly against second-person present-tense writing, but it is clearly an intentional choice on Backman's part and only serves to enhance the tension and mood of the book. As a writer, I tend to read books with a critical eye, but I had very little to criticize about Beartown. I found myself fully immersed in the world, not being suddenly thrust out by flaws in the way the book is written. A very good story that is very well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Death of parent

ambi_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Abandonment

chamaeleontis's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Self harm, and Gaslighting

alexxrose's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

An absolute must-read for those who grew up in and around sports culture. Backman pulls no punches as he examines the complex relationships we have to our hometown heroes and the realities of placing such reverence on regular people, especially children. 
The narrative style focuses mostly on telling the reader and gets to the showing afterwards, but this stylistic choice works very well for the kind of story being told. There is only one chapter I can think of that does not feel completely necessary to the story but it's not intrusive enough to knock off any stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Rape is the catalyst for the plot. The actual act is not described in great detail, however there are haunting descriptions of what details the victim will remember for the rest of her life.

cheezyreads's review against another edition

5.0

Trigger Warnings are needed for this book.....
Rape, violence, drugs, alcohol!

This book.... It hit me in the feels so many times, I wasn't sure about wanting to read it as it's a hockey town but holy hell this book. Def needs a ton of trigger warnings but damn I actually love this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

beccic's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

amzyrebecca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, and Death of parent

bookishandjoyceful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This book... It was slow to start and took a while to get past the set up of characters and the town, however, once it does... WOW! Beartown is a hockey town where hockey always comes first no matter what. When the hockey team has its best chance at winning a championship, things go wrong and it leaves a girl's life changed forever! Travel through this town while this terrible town works through this whole situation. Backman's writing is absolutely beautiful, but this book made me so angry and definitely threw me around on this one. I would definitely look out for the major trigger warnings as this book is full of them and has extremely strong victim-blaming from the rape. While this book was so dark and emotional, after reading this, A Man Called Ove and Anxious People, I will absolutely continue to pick up Backman's books in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Suicide

TW: Infant/Baby Death, Victim Blaming