Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Beartown

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

202 reviews

alexashabit's review against another edition

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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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oatmilktea's review against another edition

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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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gabrielastbr's review against another edition

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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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ashleighday3's review against another edition

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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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liinaps's review against another edition

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You don't need to say words to the effect of "but nothing would ever be the same after the terrible event that is about to happen" at the end of every paragraph to build suspense.

I also would never have picked up the book if I had known the entire plot centres around a girl being raped. I'm tired of men writing about assaulting women.

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desireewoodwhite's review against another edition

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emotional fast-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

3.75

It made me cry happy tears, tears of sorrow and devastation — and I loved it all.

Check out the trigger warnings if you haven’t already!!

I hadn’t checked them for myself so frantically I was taken aback by some parts.

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christiegirl11's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

A very enthusiastic five stars. Fredrik Backman’s books always take me a minute to get into. His writing style is very unique and you have to really be paying attention to know what’s going on. But boy is it always worth it.

Beartown is a hockey town where hockey rules over all. Being from the southern USA, this is mirrored in football. These athletes are kids, but they hold the weight of the entire town based on a game. These kids make mistakes which have an immediate widespread effect. In this book, Kevin makes a massive mistake and the resulting consequences change the whole fabric of the town.

My favorite part of the book is the very beginning because it sticks with you the entire book. I wondered and kept trying to figure out who it was the whole time I read. I thought it was the obvious answer, then I came up with a bunch of outlandish ones. In the end, I never would have guessed where that beginning line would become.

Backman does a great job pointing out the faults in society without being preachy. He crafts characters that make human decisions and react in ways you wouldn’t expect. By the end of the story, you have a true feeling about the characters. Some you disgust, some you want to go on to a happy life.

Read this book. It’s awesome.

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jillybar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

I can't believe the same man wrote A Man Called Ove. Both were masterful in their prose and storytelling, but the two could not be any more different in subject matter. And yet, I can believe it, because both left me reeling and feeling so strongly connected and sympathetic to a whole cast of multi-faceted characters. I cried. I seethed. I laughed (although more rarely than I did reading Ove).

Love Benji. Love Maya. Love Bobo??? Love Amat.

Knocking it a but because of aspects of the flash forward at the end, but overall such a good read.

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breannaschnurr's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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besidemyshelf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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