katievh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Grief, Death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Death of parent
chalbu's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia
kt2e56's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Fatphobia, Grief, Ableism, Suicide, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Car accident, Dementia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Bullying, and Infertility
booknerdsinmn's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death, Racism, Misogyny, Car accident, Xenophobia, Grief, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Body shaming
stephbernoth's review against another edition
- 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
1.75
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Cancer, Violence, Medical content, Infertility, Dementia, and Body shaming
bridgetkay's review against another edition
The character is problematic as all hell and I really have no interest in a story centred on a white man who’s surrounded by people who aren’t white men as supporting characters to some kind of redemption arc. Any time I attempted to read this, it put me in a bad mood. So for self care purposes, I will not be finishing this.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
raelinton's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Miscarriage, Death, and Car accident
Moderate: Homophobia and Body shaming
fazazzle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
That being said, I’m not sure that this book says anything remarkably unique about grief or friendship or life that will really stick with me. (Not sure if the translation into English is at fault here, but I truly cannot think of a single stand-out quote). Mostly I’ll remember crying over the characters and the circumstances they find themselves in. If you think you are suppressing any emotions and need a cry, this is the book for you! (Obviously, beware the CWs, this book actually is not for everyone. If I wasn’t already invested in the story, I might not have finished reading it myself).
I think that Backman’s skill of slowly revealing character backgrounds through flashbacks as the book progresses is really what makes the characters feel so fleshed-out and real. Don’t even talk to me about the Jimmy background reveal - yes, I was crying.
Anyways, I don’t think I will read this book again anytime soon unless I really need to get the tears flowing for some random reason.
Spoiler
If I had a nickel for every time in the past 6 months I read a book about a person trying and failing to unalive themselves, I’d have TWO nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Homophobia, Body shaming, Car accident, Fatphobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition
- 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
To me this book is about the power of connections and not shutting yourself down to be able to connect. It’s also about grief, loss, love, friendship and allowing change.
—-only thing I didn’t like was how much Fredrik made the interactions with Jimmy largely about how fat he is and not kind descriptions either.
Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Injury/injury detail
tiffyd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, and Suicide
Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Homophobia