Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Beartown

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

92 reviews

storieswithannej's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Beartown started slow for me. I stopped at 30% after THE INCIDENT because it pained me as a woman, to see my kind hurting that much. I needed to breathe for weeks because of that.

When I get back to Beartown, my hands can never put it down. So I tried to stay up late to finish it and failing to do so and instead wrap it up the following morning.

I was wearing a poker face at first when I went in. Good thing I brought some other masks as my expression changed from happy to sad to anger to depressed then anger again, shouting “IDIOT!” with Backman, each one louder than the last. I figured I brought the wrong head gear, or costume, in this matter. I should’ve fit myself in a whole hockey set. Because while the silent battles happen inside the victims’ heads, I want to knock my stick to every adult I pass just to put some sense in their heads. “And you dare call yourselves ‘adults’?!,” I might shout at them. I wish I have my helmet on as I fight with and for Amat inside the cafeteria and outside with Bobo as these kids try to disarm a kid who will always be the strongest warrior in the room even without his armor on. Okay, just second best, because Maya is the first. I long to have my own pucks to write messages for Maya, just to let her know that I care. I CARE SO MUCH that I wish I was there to save her.

I just want to be their friend. Even though it’s a town that stays silent, no “thank yous” or “I’m sorrys” and instead passed as “would you like a drink?” through meaningful eye contacts, I want to do the opposite. I want to hug Ramona and the men in black leather jackets, and repeat what Tails said to her: You are the strongest man in Beartown I know. I want to shout at Maggan Lyt, at the police, at everyone who’s turning a blind eye on what happened. But I think this is how the system works, in most countries, and sadly, in our society today.

I kept musing that maybe there’s a hidden meaning in all this. There’s something to study underneath this. Backman will always have my heart, mind, and soul in chokehold. His books make “souls fly” as he’d phrased. I am always grateful for the way he writes about humanity – with hearts and souls, not just with useless minds. What I love most about his works is the message that it is not too late for us. That there’s still goodness left in this world – if only we know how to “keep the right company.”

Content Warnings

lucygibbons22's review

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

For me, it started out slow and I thought was kind of boring because all the characters fit very stereotypical roles but then they got so much more complicated and the journey they all went on was intense and difficult but relatable. So many twists. So many people to care about and root for and a few to hate. Great read.

Content Warnings

jenhawkins's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

“It’s only a game. It only resolves tiny, insignificant things. Such as who gets validation. Who gets listened to. It allocates power and draws boundaries and turns some people into stars and others into spectators. That’s all.”

This book was nothing like I expected, and yet everything I have come to experience from this author. Fredrik Backman has a skill for creating the most compelling, most fleshed out crew of characters, very similar in some aspects to James McBride’s “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store”. He differentiates the more central voices and stories from others, but does not narrow his scope at all. The Beartown team, their friends, their parents and their parents’ friends, the woven tapestry of the town comes into full focus in this novel. The community has sharp, contrasting characters, some to root for and others to bristle up against.

I went into this book expecting a heartwarming tale about a hockey team fighting against all odds to succeed in a world that sees them as the underdogs. This is not that book. This book shines in its portrayal of the spectrum of human kindness and human fallibility, in spotlighting what distress and challenge does to different people. How their environment is not just a passive sleepy town in the forest, but a living and breathing PRESENCE in their lives, with expectations all its own. At its heart, this novel is about how perspective shapes the stories one tells to the world and to themselves. Passion, the destructive and healing powers of community, and a loss of innocence at all ages are fiercely returning themes as well. It was heart-wrenching and raw and persevering. I was hooked immediately.

The faults I had with this book were minor but bugged me enough to keep this one floating around 4 stars for me. One thing I noticed that gets on my nerves a bit in books is that some of the characters, the children in particular, did not speak to each other or to adults like people. They often said things that, while profound, did not match a natural person’s thoughts and opinions. Lines were often delivered for emotional impact and commentary on society rather than if they were being delivered to a best friend, or a mother. I also thought there was a bit of a leaning to wrap some of these story threads up too neatly. Some characters “learn their lesson” clean and clear, almost to give the book some strong sense of a hopeful ending. Perhaps this is part of the message of the novel, but I found it less compelling than the rest of Backman’s writing.

Content Warnings