Reviews tagging 'Death'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

79 reviews

irish_fields's review against another edition

medium-paced

• 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: Rape

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

isabella__nesh99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

(review after 2/4/25)
i love going back and annotating books during a reread, it's so relaxing and soothing and helps me procrastinate doing homework which is like exactly what i need rn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

There are some pretty overt and heavy themes discussed in this book, but Backman has nothing if not a deft and compassionate hand. While the personal contexts of every character is given, even the rapist's and other people who do not-good things, Backman never gives any excuses for bad behavior, and he also doesn't tell you, the reader, how to feel. He lets you draw your own conclusions while providing context.

deelightfulreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

this was such a beautifully written novel. all these characters were so well developed, i had a hard time believing they weren’t real 😭 it was so devastating, tragic and traumatic but hopeful the way the good triumphs the evil in the end. i can’t recommend enough, but please check the trigger warnings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse

noble_editorial'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

elevent11's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

namenotimportant's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

"She wonders what it would take for a woman to be the right kind of guy."
"Their coach teaches them to go hard into close combat on the ice. No one stops to think about how to switch that attitude off when they leave the locker room. It's easier to pin the blame on her: She's too young. Too attractive. Too easily offended. Too difficult to respect."
"Why Maya's word wasn't enough."

An infuriating book about loyalty and integrity.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, and Blood

kirstensbabel's review against another edition

5.0

This is one of the best books I have ever read that is just about people. It flits through so many different povs from people in Beartown, yet somehow makes them each a complete and whole character, by showing them through the angles of themselves and everyone they know. It is really masterful. 
This book is also insanely sad. It is heart-wrenchingly devastating in a way that makes you feel this old, deep misery in your stomach. I felt genuine pain reading this and also thinking about it. I had to put it down sometimes not just because it's heavy (I've read much heavier books), but because every character is going through so much pain. Every person in the community whether you like them or not, is going through their own story and their own pain. 
It's a book about hockey. 
But it is not about hockey. 
I don't play hockey. I have never seen a hockey game. But it doesn't matter, because the characters love hockey. It is what brings them together and that is what you can connect to. 
This book is filled with so much love and sadness and hope and grief and pain, generally just so much emotion that it's hard to read sometimes from all the feeling Backman makes you do. 
My favorite characters are Benji (boy with the sad eyes and the wild heart), Kira (the mother wolf), Peter, Maya, Ana, Romona and Amat. I don't know if David is the best character or the worst one. 
The biggest tragedy is that in the first act Backman builds up all the pride and hope the town has for Kevin, that you start to feel that he's your hero too. So when the

rape

is committed, thats when you feel all of it fall away as if you are another person in Beartown. And then the rage comes, the rage at the fact that such an act can be committed and people will still say that the boy is innocent because they would rather

label a girl as a slut

than look in the mirror and see what their community as done to themselves. 
Last of all the writing is insanely gorgeous, simple at times but with lines that take your breath away. 
I did cry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

potmom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Rape

Moderate: Sexism, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

samanthasshelf_'s review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

a beautifully written story that handles a lot of heavy topics with an incredible amount of nuance and care. the characters were incredibly well developed, and the multiple POVs really aided in the complex portrayal of the human experience. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Self harm

avalon's review

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