Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Vi mot er

“Perhaps one day he’ll find words for that feeling of being different. How physical it is. Exclusion is a form of exhaustion that eats its way into your skeleton... Three little words used to describe weakness, stupidity, anything that didn’t function properly. Anything that was defective... It’s only words. Only letters. Only a human being.”

Welcome back to Beartown. A town that lost its way, fell and is now dying. In Us Against You, Fredrik Backman brings us a heart wrenching story of two towns, two teams, and what it means to believe in something bigger than yourself. One post does not do justice to this book. 2,200 characters is not enough. For this post I’m going to focus on how the book made me feel. So, this is not really a book review.

Backman takes words and turns them into something more. He turns them into emotions. And then he uses those very emotions to break your heart. If Beartown was the author ripping our hearts out, Us Against You is him throwing it on the floor and stomping on it while you helplessly watch from a corner. Because you can’t stop yourself. Because he’s that good. Backman is famous for writing books that test you not only as a reader but also as a person. It’s hard to read this book, but as the Bears from Beartown will tell you with a grin, “It’s supposed to be hard”.

I loved it and I hated it. I laughed and I cried. I shut the book and threw it away. I picked it back up and held it close. I took many breaks in between but I always came back for more, because by then this book and it’s characters had become a part of me. Their wins were mine to savour and their tragedies were mine to bear, and trust me there’s plenty of both in this book.

Backman is a master when it comes to writing grey characters. You can dislike his characters but never hate them because he’ll make sure to show you that they are only human after all, flawed and imperfect like all of us. He is not afraid of tarnishing his “heroes” and redeeming his “villains”.

Read this one. But be sure to pace yourself.

Content Warnings

oliverlang's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

emakay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

ereadsde5dd's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

warnerselle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Us against you and Beartown are two of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. Benji's character is very relatable, the anger, apathy and fear of growing up lgbtq+ alone, a sad childhood, a missing sense of belonging in a way you can't express is very hard to write but it's perfectly. I loved every minute I spent reading it.

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