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hmcbog's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Animal death
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
sandysmith's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
What a ride of a book. It was a tad long at nearly 700 pages, but this I overlooked to reunite with my favourite characters and some new ones. The author writes them so beautifully, and in such a way that the ending is heartbreaking. "This hurts too much to touch with words", you do need to have read the previous 2 books in the trilogy, but the investment is so worth it. Friendships, politics, town rivalry, family relationships, religion, kindness, happiness, love, and so much more than ice hockey teams. It is an emotional, big-hearted, clever, and simply delightful. I absolutely loved it. Go Beartown.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Gun violence, and Rape
aprsch's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
The final book in the Beartown trilogy, The Winners continues the story of the team and the town. Backman's style of writing is clearly his own, and brings the characters so beautifully to life. I felt for these characters as if they were people in my own life. I smiled and cried over their experiences. Backman did a fantastic job of wrapping things up in a way that felt complete - there were no cliffhangers or loose ends. I felt satisfied that I was given everything I needed to know, even if some of the things I was given were hard to receive. These books have become new favourites that I will encourage everyone I know to read, and I can't wait to read more of Backman's other books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Rape, and Homophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, and Mass/school shootings
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)
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
fireflyhollow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Animal death
emalillah's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, Blood, Grief, Cancer, Gun violence, Violence, Terminal illness, Outing, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Racism, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Murder, Mental illness, Suicide, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Car accident, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, Child death, and Bullying
raisinreads's review against another edition
emotional
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
BENJI?? I took that personally
Backman has such a way of writing characters that just feels so incredibly genuine, like he has such a strong understanding of humanity
Backman has such a way of writing characters that just feels so incredibly genuine, like he has such a strong understanding of humanity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Drug use, Sexual violence, Grief, Rape, Animal death, Alcohol, Death, and Gun violence
bmpicc's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
Oh Ramona... and Benji... 'Beartown' can absolutely be read as a one and done. The option to continue on with this trilogy though is wonderful. What happens? Where do they all end up? What type of person did they become?
“No one tells you before you procreate that the hardest thing about being a good parent is that you never feel like one.”
“We fool ourselves that we can protect the people we love, because if we accepted the truth we’d never let them out of our sight.”
“No one tells you before you procreate that the hardest thing about being a good parent is that you never feel like one.”
“We fool ourselves that we can protect the people we love, because if we accepted the truth we’d never let them out of our sight.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Animal death, Car accident, Homophobia, and Rape
faithwalan's review against another edition
5.0
I feel too raw to process anything rn. i’m so upset. i cried so very much. this was painful and so beautiful and this series is one of the best i’ve ever read. i fell in love and felt for nearly every character.
This hurts too much to touch with words
He has seen good people capable of great evil, but also evil people capable of incredible light. It's the same everywhere. Almost everybody loves too much, hates too easily, forgives too little. But most people want the same things: to live in peace, to make their hearts beat a little slower when the night comes, to earn some money to support the ones they love.
We fool ourselves that we can protect the people we love, because if we accepted the truth we’d never let them out of our sight.
Because he was always the sort of person who stood in the way, the sort who protected, the sort who ran. He always thought he was the bad guy in all stories, the real heroes always do, that’s why stories about boys like him never end with them growing old
There will be a spring and a summer. It's almost excruciating. But then comes autumn, short as a wink, before winter is finally upon us again. Life does not go on, it starts again, everything is possible again. Anything can happen, all the best and all the most beautiful and all the greatest adventures on earth
Because of course it was only a dog. It’s so hard to explain that it’s more than an animal when you’re that animal’s human. Perhaps it takes more empathy than most people are capable of. Or more imagination
When we are little we grieve for the person we have lost, but when we’re older we grieve even more for ourselves. He wept for her loneliness, but also his own.
Yes, Mom. It did. Your love was like organ donation. You and Dad and Leo gave me pieces of your hearts and lungs and skeletons so I could put myself back together again. And now you hardly have the strength to stand up and keep breathing yourselves. I think about that so often, and I think about all the girls who don’t have you. I feel like I only just managed to survive this. How the hell does everyone who doesn’t have you as their mom even stand a chance?” Good luck having a daughter and not going to pieces when you hear that.
What is life, other than moments? What is laughter, other than a small victory over sorrow? A single moment, just one, when everything inside us isn't broken.
We aren’t freshly blooming flowers, we’re two trees with intertwined roots, you’ve grown old within me.
Mothers and daughters know how to wound each other in totally unique ways, possibly because daughters often carry the guilt of their mothers' consciences, until they end up arguing about sins that they haven't even committed
The two young women trample over the memories and two invisible little girls pad after them. Because they're always walking behind us: the children we were before the worst that has happened happened.
She lets someone play with the number 16 again. For one single game. Alicia gets up from the bench in the locker room and leads her team out and storms the ice, and Zackell watches her and for a single moment forgets that it isn’t him
It doesn't matter that she knows that isn't true. Guilt is always stronger than logic.
And eventually enough time has passed for it to hurt only almost all the time. She has endured. She can miss him without screaming every time. Hug without crying all the time. Laugh without always feeling guilty. Life goes on. It doesn't give us any other choice
Love is a job for an adult. Love demands a whole person, all the best of you, all the worst. It has nothing to do with romance, because the hard part of a marriage isn’t that I have to live seeing all your faults, but that you have to live with me seeing them. That I know everything about you now. Most people aren’t brave enough to live without secrets. Everyone dreams about being invisible sometimes, no one dreams of being transparent. Marriage? There ought to be a different word for it after a while. Because there’s no such thing as “eternal infatuation,” only love lasts that long, and it’s never simple. It requires a whole person, everything you have. The whole lot.
Kira didn’t run toward the fire, she ran after the children. Behind her comes Tess and soon other women will come, from all directions, in red and green jackets, some even in black. They wrap their arms around each other, in circles, ring after ring, forming a wall around Alicia
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Homophobia, and Suicide
kellyinbookland's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, and Rape
Moderate: Gun violence and Homophobia