Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

17 reviews

sbookreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Murder, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Pregnancy, Classism, Cursing, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child death, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I worry that I might hold Fredrick Backman to too high of a standard, and that a 4.5 for him might be a 5 for most other authors. The way that he writes is so compelling that it might just outweigh my (limited) critiques. His maelstrom of characters is just a bit overwhelming in this book. It’s realistic, of course, to two little forest towns. But the trajectories of all of these characters doesn’t quite all come to a head. There is no good ending because the characters are so fleshed out that they demand a life story beyond the capacity of the book, and the ending began to feel like a recitation of other book’s summaries; that’s how big these characters are. Because of this, I think the book might’ve been more cohesive if the focus had been narrowed on fewer characters, even if they all still played their roles. But oh! These characters have gotten into my heart. I’ve been thinking a lot about Backman’s flavor of found families. Some found families can become saccharine, but Backman’s are all undercut by something a little darker. There’s a poetic justice to it. After all, humanity is loathe to come together except in times of crisis. But there is so much love in the face of that, and Backman manages to put that into words in a way that it feels less like words and more like a feeling. (and because of that, i’m off to read fanfiction and cry now) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Violence, Rape, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Drug use, Miscarriage, Addiction, Vomit, Self harm, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Bullying, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse

beccahblue's review

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Bullying, Rape, Sexual violence, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Miscarriage

nikimorr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Beartown has always been one of my favorite fictional towns to visit. 

I will say, I had a harder time with Winners versus the first two books in the Beartown series. Fredrik Bachman has so many deep, powerful, and thought-provoking messages to relay; however, sometimes it can feel like these deeper messages bog down the story and slow the development of plot. The ending, despite the length of the book, felt like a rush - as if most of the book was asking the reader to contemplate these deeper messages that the plot had to all be thrown in at once at the end. The ending was foreshadowed throughout, almost like you knew the ending before it happened, but it took about 600 pages to get there. Overall, I was not entranced by the storyline. 

All this to say, I still love the Beartown series. I always leave these books with a feeling of understanding and appreciation of community. The good, the bad, and the ugly in us and within our communities. Nothing is ever black and white, and I appreciate that recognition in this fictional town and within their relationships. As is said frequently by Lev - good people can do very bad things, and bad people can do very good things. 

A question Frederik Backman always takes us back to: why don’t we believe and support our women victims? It’s a real issue in today’s society, and I appreciate a male voice recognizing and questioning it. 

 SPOILERS. My favorite addition to this final book was the introduction of Hannah and Johnny. I found them to be far more relatable than most characters and both sweet and heartwarming to read about - a couple very much in love, with wildly important and time consuming careers testing which often test the balance of their family. 

SPOILERS. Another addition I both appreciated and hated was Bang, Sune’s dog. As an avid animal lover, I felt every word about the love a person can have for a pet. Sune puts it best - was he my dog, or was I really his human? The animal abuse and death of Bang had me also hating this chapter - nothing gets to me more. 

SPOILERS. The evolution of Matteo was both terrifying and fascinating. Well done by Fredrik Backman for creating an “enemy” that made the reader, at least sort of, understand how he got to a place of doing something so horrifying and to get you questioning the role that everyone played in shaping the events that led to the horrible gun violence ending the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Death, Stalking, and Murder

thehmkane's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Dammit Backman, you've done it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Addiction, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicide, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Abandonment, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Ableism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Miscarriage

kananineko's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Grief, Animal death, Death, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, Drug use, and Cursing

Moderate: Child death, Religious bigotry, Blood, Sexism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Stalking, Pregnancy, Classism, and Fatphobia

Minor: Xenophobia, Racism, Excrement, Homophobia, Suicide, Physical abuse, Car accident, Cancer, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

meeklovestoread's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

In Backman fashion, he did it again. I really liked this trilogy. His writing was great and lyrical as always. I like all the topics he tackled in this book as well as found family that was formed with the main characters. However, I did feel like this book could've been 100 pages shorter and I was really caught off guard by the abundance of new characters introduced. Although I did enjoy the politics of the books, I'm not going to lie I did find it difficult to grasp, but politics is a pretty foreign concept to me so I guess that was on me. And speaking of the politics I still can't seem to understand what was Richard Theo's agenda in the end and how he had such indirect influence on such a small town. But overall, I still like the book and do recommend the trilogy. 

it sucks that no one will ever know what happened to Ruth😔; also I still will never forgive Ana for putting Benji the way she did (I was side-eyeing her the whole book)

One critic I will draw from this book thought was the lack of ultra-femininity. Maybe that's just how the female characters were supposed to be, but it kind of annoyed me that they all had to be strong and tough all the time. Also, I was hoping Leo would get more of an arc this book considering what happened in the second book, but I guess that was okay.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, and Homophobia

Minor: Classism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Cursing

edgaranjapoe's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Rape, Murder, Grief, Classism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Blood, Homophobia, Car accident, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Abandonment, Stalking, Self harm, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Fatphobia, Abortion, Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Vomit

kaylamoran's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.0

I'm so disappointed.  I loved Beartown and Us Against You, and this book felt so unnecessary.  First off, it was waaaay too long.  It took forever for anything to happen, and honestly barely anything happened.  It could've been 200 pages shorter and had the same story.
Still broke me at the end though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Classism, Animal death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Xenophobia, Racism, Blood, and Homophobia

charlotte123's review against another edition

5.0

Ich habe Backman zwischendurch echt gehasst, aber am Ende war es perfekt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit, War, Outing, Car accident, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Racism