A review by jess_clow
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

emotional 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

This book makes me think of the one quote from Daniel Sloss: “when one in ten men are shit and the other nine do nothing, they might as well not fucking be there.”
Benji and Amat were probably my favourite characters and both of their character arcs in the book absolutely broke me. And Kevin??? When he was trying to rewrite the story IN HIS OWN HEAD and then fully believed it when he told David was soul crushing. At the end of this I'm still not sure Kevin really believes he's done anything wrong. The ending scene with Maya and Kevin I was honestly so convinced she was gonna kill him. But honestly, all the characters were so well rounded and this is gonna sound crazy but the character arc of Kevin's mum was what sold me on this book. And don't even get me started on Ramona.
I am very interested to see where the rest of the trilogy goes though; Beartown feels like a complete story and I’m wondering what the subsequent books will do to add to this world. That said, give me the sequel right now or I might perish.
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