Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Beartown

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Beartown” by Fredrik Backman was an emotional and gut-wrenching read. It’s also an important one when it comes down to the themes it reveals. I still feel emotionally exhausted after reading it. I plan to finish the series eventually; I’m just not sure how quickly I can jump into the next one yet.

“Beartown” might at first glance seem to merely be a hockey story, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about human nature and all the ugliness that it entails such as toxic masculinity, rape culture, discrimination, homophobia, domestic violence, alcoholism, poverty, classism, etc. Yet, somehow, the novel also offers glimpses of love, joy, happiness, pride, friendship, family, community, and standing up for what’s right. That’s what helped me continue reading. I was angry enough I needed answers, but I was anxious the entire time. If it weren’t for those heartwarming moments, I don’t know if I could’ve read it as easily.

Thankfully there are a lot of characters that made the book work, and I’ll carry a special place for Maya, Ana, Amat, and Benji especially when I think back. The tragic elements of the plot was difficult and readers should check with the triggers before pursuing it.

Overall, I’m glad I read the novel and Backman remains one of my favourite authors. I just need a happier book to read next to help repair my poor heart. ♥️📚

Content Warnings

oliii_24's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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yulecogs's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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svenja1996's review against another edition

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4.5

Rather slow beginning but so many very important topics which are discussed in a delicate but straight forward way. Beautifully written.

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Okay, so when reading this I'm not gonna lie it's very slow in the beginning. And I even had the thought of dnf-ing because I was starting school and didn't have the time to stick through a book, but the concept was still intriguing to me and I loved "A Man Called Ove" so I stuck around for the author as well. Oh my goodness! I'm soooooo glad I dud! This book was phenomenal. But I feel like you have to like the way it was written to enjoy the story.

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soozn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Right from the beginning this book feels ominous. Ominous and quiet and foreboding and profound. In a way, it reminds me of Twin Peaks or the movie Fargo in that it tells a big story woven together by little slice-of-life insights into being human with a lot darkness hanging over the whole thing.

It’s chock full of thoughtful and insightful commentary on the difficulties of being a person. What life does to us and what we do to each other. It’s cautionary tale after cautionary tale about all the ways we fail ourselves and one another. Backman uses his characters to point out our own foibles and blind spots. And I love how often he uses metaphors and similes to get across ideas and themes. There are so many and they’re so well done. They’re my favorite aspect of the book. [“Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone who’s freezing.”]

I love how unabashedly feminist the book is. It has a lot to say about the perils and insidiousness of misogyny without really having to SAY anything at all. I think Backman does an amazing job of showing how often women are casually disrespected, how often their talents are written off, their opinions dismissed, how they’re subject to the whims of violence and power of the men around them, how few people are willing to stand up for them. He also shows different ways they can take back the power that’s been taken from them and how hard it is to do so. Kira, Maya, Fatima, Adri, Jeanette, Kevin’s mom (who, rather appropriately due to her lack of agency, is never given a name) among others, all give us examples. Misogyny makes for a sinister background presence in this book.

I found it a little slow at times but Beartown is an extremely well written, powerful and thought-provoking work with important messages, great storytelling and excellent characters.

4 stars out of 5

⚠️ I honestly had no idea this was basically a story about Brock Turner. If I’d have known that, I probably wouldn’t have read it. This book was probably not one I should have picked up and I had a hard time getting through it. Heed the TW/CWs on this one, folks. 👇🏼

https://booktriggerwarnings.com/index.php?title=Beartown_by_Fredrik_Backman

Content Warnings

mllesophie's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It is rare that I have to stop reading to laugh out loud, but I did in this case.
In reality this book treat of a really serious subject... Rape Culture, but there were small joke here and there that were needed to change the mood a little. This was a great read and I would recommand it to anyone after they check the content warning section. I really appriciate that there were no graphic scene in this book.

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