A review by mroth
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In some ways the end of this book redeemed it for me, but mostly I need to sit with it for a lot longer before making a call. I thought the cast of characters was complex and fully realized and this was also a hard one to get through at several points. 
Spoiler I think what it comes down to is, as much as he tried to be honest, this is a rape storyline written by a man who treats rape more as a concept and plot device than as an extremely personal and painful act of violence. There was so much distance in how it was dealt with, even from the “good” characters.


As an aside, having the three parallel men named Kevin, David, and Peter was REALLY confusing to me. I cannot explain it, but those are the same name and I had to think really hard to remember who they were talking about when. 
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