Scan barcode
A review by abbysbookwor1d
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
5.0
WOW!! I think I just found a new favourite author.
I laughed, I cried (uncontrollably) and I raged. I love and hate this town. And I would read a million more stories about this town.
📖 Set in a remote Swedish town, the story revolves around a junior ice hockey team and a violent act that shatters the community.
✨ Review ✨
First I would say to check your trigger warnings. This is a heavy/dark read. It was absolutely devastating I sobbed my heart out. What I will say without spoilers is the author handles all of it with such care, respect and understanding it's incredible.
Now this is set in a hockey town and while hockey is at the core of this town as someone who's only knowledge of hockey is the mighty duck films I can safely say you don't need to know anything about hockey.
This is what I would call a dark slice of life. It's multiple POV and we follow many people within this town. The characterisation is incredible this town came to life through the pages and the prose is fantastic he earned every he wrote.
The level of depth and complexity he manages to give everyone is incredible. There were characters I loved, characters I hated with every fiber of my being. Then there were the characters I like but felt disappointed in. They were all just so real and that's the main thing that made some of them so frustrating because this speaks so true to life and I hate that reality.
This also speaks on the weird culture we create around things like sports, how society focuses in on the accusation rather than crime, how silence is easy but so damaging and dangerous and so much more. It's such a layed story and even though this completely works as a standalone I can tell this town has more to give.
His prose his also fantastic, it was beautiful but he also managed to weave dread and hope through the pages. This story gripped me from beginning to end.
This was beautiful, devastating, intense, raw, honest and so important. This book will stay with me and so will this town.
I laughed, I cried (uncontrollably) and I raged. I love and hate this town. And I would read a million more stories about this town.
📖 Set in a remote Swedish town, the story revolves around a junior ice hockey team and a violent act that shatters the community.
✨ Review ✨
First I would say to check your trigger warnings. This is a heavy/dark read. It was absolutely devastating I sobbed my heart out. What I will say without spoilers is the author handles all of it with such care, respect and understanding it's incredible.
Now this is set in a hockey town and while hockey is at the core of this town as someone who's only knowledge of hockey is the mighty duck films I can safely say you don't need to know anything about hockey.
This is what I would call a dark slice of life. It's multiple POV and we follow many people within this town. The characterisation is incredible this town came to life through the pages and the prose is fantastic he earned every he wrote.
The level of depth and complexity he manages to give everyone is incredible. There were characters I loved, characters I hated with every fiber of my being. Then there were the characters I like but felt disappointed in. They were all just so real and that's the main thing that made some of them so frustrating because this speaks so true to life and I hate that reality.
This also speaks on the weird culture we create around things like sports, how society focuses in on the accusation rather than crime, how silence is easy but so damaging and dangerous and so much more. It's such a layed story and even though this completely works as a standalone I can tell this town has more to give.
His prose his also fantastic, it was beautiful but he also managed to weave dread and hope through the pages. This story gripped me from beginning to end.
This was beautiful, devastating, intense, raw, honest and so important. This book will stay with me and so will this town.