Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

97 reviews

hmih's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

jennalistens's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

susandiane's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

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Surpassed Anxious People as my favorite Backman book. He has a way of making you laugh, then breaking your heart, only to lovingly put it back together again using humor, the most lovable characters, and heartfelt stories. This is kind of book that makes you want to hug your loved ones a little longer than usual. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts

sunshine_mel's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent

ngerling's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I have a love/hate relationship with this book. It was SO difficult to get into. It was highly recommended to me and maybe that was part of the problem. Also, reading the description of the book doesn’t truly tell you what it’s about. I didn’t find anything to connect to until p. 177. From there until p.425 there were a few other sentences and paragraphs that knocked me around, made my heart beat faster, made my heart slow down, made me sad, & made me happy. It is not a book I would recommend or read again, but a few things will stick with me. They definitely aren’t the uplifting things that so many others wrote about the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail

ncholmes2022's review against another edition

1.5

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was my third Fredrik Backman book. I wanted to love this book, but it frustrated me so much! It did have excellent prose, likeable characters, and important themes. But it also had too much cursing, too many fart jokes, and too many bad things happening to the characters. At first the sad themes were relatable, but by the middle it felt too heavy-handed, and by the end it felt like emotional manipulation. The term trauma porn comes to mind.

The book started losing me when the janitor died the very day after meeting the artist. The worst part was being led to believe that Joar was going to die throughout the entire book! I was so mad when he was alive! That felt cruel, manipulative, and unnecessary to have the readers bracing themselves for his death.

The characters also fell into stereotypes--

Ted the nerd, Joar the jock, Kimkim the queer tragic artist, and Ali the girl!

--and their dialogue felt unrealistically sappy, even for teenagers with a trauma bond. I would not recommend this book to others, and at this point I am not sure whether I will continue with the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Abandonment, Classism

The book started losing me when the janitor died the next day after meeting the artist. We were led to believe that Joar was going to die throughout the entire book! I was so mad when he was alive! That felt cruel, manipulative, and unnecessary to have the readers bracing themselves for his death.

franklola's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent

laura_berger's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent

deanaj's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse

Moderate: Bullying

shannonlar's review against another edition

4.5

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence