A review by nika_nix
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
3.0
I don't know how I feel about this. Did I like it? Did I not? I have no clue.
Overall, it's a good book but there were a couple things that really bothered me. Firstly, I was so annoyed by the overly dramatic writing and the author's constant effort to try to trick the reader. Usually I like those fun little clues and twists but it is so overdone in this book and mostly has no purpose other than author feeling like he's smarter than the reader. Also, I feel like Backman is trying way too hard to be quotable. Like yeah, sure, he's a good writer but it's just too much sometimes.
There were so many characters in this book and some of them really didn't have any purpose (Ramona, Frak and some other random people) and I feel like were here just so the story feels fuller and more complex but instead it just made it more boring.
Also, the hockey. I found hockey interesting before reading this book. Now I have the same feelings toward it as I have for soccer. And I fucking hate soccer because everyone talks about it so much and it's annoying.
The ending is some underwhelming bullshit. Throughout the story I was led to believe that so many big things might happen and all I get in the end is some stupid fast forward and zero consequences. Bullshit.
The topic of the book is very important and I even got teary-eyed at certain parts that were very hard to read because unfortunately, it was way too realistic. This book made me angry made me sad but overall made me very frustrated and helpless. I understand why the author decided to take this route and I don't mind the hard parts of the book but I don't apreciate the overall message that if you're popular enough or rich enough you can do whatever and people are going to stand by you.
Oh also, the first 200 pages of this book were just plain boring and I was thinking of DNF-ing but I'm glad I didn't because ai flew through the rest of the book once the plot actually started.
And lastly, another thing that didn't sit well with me. Mild homophobia. Some might argue that the homophobic comments weren't a message of the book and were there just to portray a certain character but the tone and the way author writes those sentences with double meaning made me feel uncomfortable and disgusted.
Overall, it's a good book but there were a couple things that really bothered me. Firstly, I was so annoyed by the overly dramatic writing and the author's constant effort to try to trick the reader. Usually I like those fun little clues and twists but it is so overdone in this book and mostly has no purpose other than author feeling like he's smarter than the reader. Also, I feel like Backman is trying way too hard to be quotable. Like yeah, sure, he's a good writer but it's just too much sometimes.
There were so many characters in this book and some of them really didn't have any purpose (Ramona, Frak and some other random people) and I feel like were here just so the story feels fuller and more complex but instead it just made it more boring.
Also, the hockey. I found hockey interesting before reading this book. Now I have the same feelings toward it as I have for soccer. And I fucking hate soccer because everyone talks about it so much and it's annoying.
The ending is some underwhelming bullshit. Throughout the story I was led to believe that so many big things might happen and all I get in the end is some stupid fast forward and zero consequences. Bullshit.
The topic of the book is very important and I even got teary-eyed at certain parts that were very hard to read because unfortunately, it was way too realistic. This book made me angry made me sad but overall made me very frustrated and helpless. I understand why the author decided to take this route and I don't mind the hard parts of the book but I don't apreciate the overall message that if you're popular enough or rich enough you can do whatever and people are going to stand by you.
Oh also, the first 200 pages of this book were just plain boring and I was thinking of DNF-ing but I'm glad I didn't because ai flew through the rest of the book once the plot actually started.
And lastly, another thing that didn't sit well with me. Mild homophobia. Some might argue that the homophobic comments weren't a message of the book and were there just to portray a certain character but the tone and the way author writes those sentences with double meaning made me feel uncomfortable and disgusted.