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A review by readingadventures
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
5.0
Absolutely soul crushing in many ways.
I have to say that I was expecting a happier, sillier, goofier story. For some reason I had forgotten that I have read a couple of other books by this author and they have never been happy, goofy, and silly for more than a paragraph. Nevertheless, I adored this book. It was so genuine in its depiction of adolescence and it humanized even the most nasty of characters. I felt heartbroken for the hardships the characters had to endure and yet hopeful they would find a way to heal.
As I am writing this I realize I still wish, in some ways, this book had been what my expectations described because for me, there is nothing harder than seeing plausible reality portrayed as fiction. But I am in no way disappointed that this book is what it is. In fact, I think I needed this book to destroy me in the way the saddest of books does, where the sadness is so profound there is no room for crying, and I wish more people would understand what it feels like to know what people you love and care for are capable of even as you cannot stop loving them.
A gem.
(I still don't know if I will be reading the sequels)
I have to say that I was expecting a happier, sillier, goofier story. For some reason I had forgotten that I have read a couple of other books by this author and they have never been happy, goofy, and silly for more than a paragraph. Nevertheless, I adored this book. It was so genuine in its depiction of adolescence and it humanized even the most nasty of characters. I felt heartbroken for the hardships the characters had to endure and yet hopeful they would find a way to heal.
As I am writing this I realize I still wish, in some ways, this book had been what my expectations described because for me, there is nothing harder than seeing plausible reality portrayed as fiction. But I am in no way disappointed that this book is what it is. In fact, I think I needed this book to destroy me in the way the saddest of books does, where the sadness is so profound there is no room for crying, and I wish more people would understand what it feels like to know what people you love and care for are capable of even as you cannot stop loving them.
A gem.
(I still don't know if I will be reading the sequels)