Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Winners

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

66 reviews

lavendcr's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

We try to just live our lives, live with each other, live with ourselves. Accepting joy when we find it, bearing grief when it finds us, and being amazed at our children's happiness without falling apart when we think that we can never really protect them.

i have been emotional asf recently, so when i opened to the first page of the book, I STARTED SOBBING! i was intimidated by the page count but i feel like it was an appropriate length for everything that happened here. it was steady for most of the book, and then during the final quarter it just started getting really tense.

i don't think i've experienced this much anxiety and chest pain while reading a book. it was intense and even as im writing this i feel so uneasy. numb.
i am completely gutted.

benjamin ovich i love you so much. you deserved everything and more in the world and i hope with my entire heart that you are safe and happy.

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elainarkk's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

While I enjoyed reading this series as a whole, this book was such a drag for me. Half of the plot points and new characters don’t have any significance in the end, which makes it hard to appreciate how long it took to read. The underlying messages and conversations had in this book about sexism, violent masculinity, class structures, and family (whether chosen or biological) are super great, so—again—I’m glad I read it, but I just think Backman’s writing style is not my cup of tea.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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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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