Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Beartown

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

44 reviews

kmadmclean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.25

I really enjoy Backman's style and will definitely be reading more from him. I preferred Ove to Beartown, but this book definitely kept me hooked and interested all the way through. I love how Backman lets his characters be complex, but sometimes feel he could go a bit deeper with the relationship development. Didn't love the end as I felt there were a few loose ends I was wondering about. Still would recommend to a friend though!

Content Warnings

charlievsmith's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Content Warnings

elevent11's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

kirstensbabel's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

potmom's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

majca's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.75

If only she hadn't existed, then none of this would have happened, why didn't she think of that.

This turned out to be the wrong read at the wrong time for me. I didn’t expect the “event” to be what it was, and the emotions it stirred felt uncomfortably close to current real-life frustrations. Sadly I just wanted the book to be over at a certain point.

That said it's still a good novel, as the conflict and characters are deeply heartfelt and realistically drawn. With a large cast like this, it’s impressive how coherent and authentic each character feels. However, the rapid shifts in perspective may not suit everyone.

I docked 1–1.5 stars for a few personal grievances. Even under different circumstances, the topic is too authentic and painful and too frequent a real life story that I don't particularly enjoy reading about it in fiction. Additionally, the narrative style didn’t work for me. The heavy, intentional repetitive phrasing. The foretelling and narrative prolepsis. And perhaps most of all the decision to resolutely use the characters roles instead of their names. Initially just distracting, this became grating by the end.
It's admittedly very quotable though, sometimes contrived or nonsensical, but often on the spot as well.

And when enough people are quiet for long enough, a handful of voices can give the impression that everyone is screaming.

Content Warnings