Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

67 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was good, but a very hard read. This is also insanely slow. I knew what this was about which I feel is low key a spoiler because the summary on the back doesn’t mention what happened. It was just so interesting to see how all the people reacted to this event and the motivation behind. This did make me so angry though. I honestly didn’t care about the hockey at 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Blood, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Suicide, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

em_hudson03101's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Beartown has been on my TBR for a few years now and there was always an urge to read it, but it was one of those books that always skipped over, which was a big mistake. I listened to Beartown after Spotify recommended it as an Audiobook and I figured why not check off a TBR book. 
Beartown was way more then I could have ever imagined it to be. The realness and cold hearted truth of the book sucked me right in. While listening to the book you feel like the characters are your friends, neighbors, coworkers etc. The author does an amazing job of setting the scene for Beartown, building a community, and keeping a space open for the reader to insert themselves right into the thick of it all. 
This book pulls at the heart strings, has you cheering for a fictional hockey game, and keeps you coming back for more time and time again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Suicide

adorablyandie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Rape, Bullying, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Xenophobia

kendal_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Classism, Alcohol, Bullying, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

hannevdss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, and Death of parent

taracloudclark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

A stark small town obsessed with hockey grooms its children to be either predators or victims, heroes are truly born out of adversity and find themselves kneecapped by those they trust the most. 

The first half of this book is a lot of exposition, setting the stage for the driving action. But it’s done well, creatively, interestingly. In other words, “nothing happens,” and I was *almost* bored with it, but I only had to push through a little. It kind of reminds me of Spoon River Anthology with the intertwining of lives and stories of a small town where everyone knows everyone and always have (except the newbies, but that’s not portrayed as harshly as many of this trope). 

While it’s a sports town, the sport itself doesn’t take a front seat. It truly is the background while still sating any love for it. 

This definitely borders on literary fiction bc the structure is done in a very precise and lovely way, using almost poetic mechanisms such as repeated phrases and parallelism. The narrative style also has a starkness that reflects the setting and the situation, and vice versa. Tension and foreshadowing are done in an obvious but not ridiculous manner. The *way* it was written is as well done as the story itself. 

This is definitely a book for consideration. The story is laid out, and while there’s no ambiguity as to “what happened,” there is much speculation to be made as to why and how and what the underlying issues are and how else they affect society. There are no stark answers given. Bad behavior is mentioned, implicated, but not condemned outright. That’s for the reader to determine, negotiate in some cases. Anyone who feels this is moralizing is probably on the more brutal side of the issue. 

The narrator Marin Ireland does very well in complimenting the narrative style as well. It’s 3rd person, and the author is male, but I’m pleased they chose a female to tell this story. Such topics through the male perspective can be troublesome, but I feel like the author did well and the narrator helped convince me of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Vomit, Classism, Blood, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide

beankels's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense 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

4.5

I started this book not loving it and not liking any of the characters. In classic Backman fashion, the story started to come together and the minor characters made the book and story. I can see why he could make this into a trilogy, there are so many complex minor characters to explore. I didn’t love the menacing foreshadowing at the end. It honestly made me read some spoilers. I didn’t want to just whiz through the next books to find an answer and wanted to enjoy them for what they were. TBD if I regret it. Either way, I appreciate the though Backman put into these characters and look forward to more of them in the other 2 books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, and Death of parent

conniejones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Drug use

xiggy's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I thought I was going to hate this book. It’s not a book I would typically pick up. I hate so many of the characters in this book and the mentality but that’s the point. The good characters continue to grow and be good and the bad ones well some grow up and learn something and some don’t. Most don’t. I wanted so badly for justice if there wasn’t any I would still hate this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Racism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

mousmoulo's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

4.5

this was an absolute masterpiece. every single character felt so real it was hard to believe they're plainly fictional. the book deals with very difficult topics in a manner that's both incredibly compassionate and utterly realistic. it's as infuriating as it is depressing as it is human. i'm just really glad for the hopeful ending because i would've pulled my hair out one strand at a time if it wasn't.

minus half a star for the amount of times i threw the book across the room in complete and utter frustration, it was hard to keep reading at times. way. too. realistic. which isn't the book's fault.

i'll take a little break before reading continuing the trilogy because i need time to process this lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Homophobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Child abuse