Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

25 reviews

karenperry93's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Bullying

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

hannasandmann's review

challenging 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Suicide, Child death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Rape and Child abuse

Minor: Religious bigotry, Addiction, and Self harm

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

audreywright's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This whole series wrecked me. Backmans character building is like no other. He is an incredible author and this series made him my favorite. The topics are hard hitting but important and impactful. You will be challenged to rethink your perspectives and you will fall in love with Beartown and these characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Outing and Self harm

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

The saga of Beartown comes to a tragic and triumphant close.

“This hurts too much to touch with words.”

I knew from the first page of The Winners that it was going to wreck me. I was not prepared. 

It took me over a month to read this book partially because work has been crazy and I haven’t had much time to read, but also because I was dreading the end of Beartown, saying goodbye to this town, these characters - especially one in particular. It was rough, but what a beautiful ride. Backman is my favorite for a reason. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Medical trauma, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

jenheartbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Backman is a genius at people. 

*Spoiler alert*


I swear in the last ice rink scene multiple people were shot, but only one is ever addressed. Or it was a little confusing and I didn't follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Grief, and Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism

in_dire_read's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Violence, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Stalking, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Animal death, and Suicide

llayaz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

j3ss1's review

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Loved it and hated it in equal measure, loved it because of how emotionally wrecked it left me. Hated it for the same reason!
It speaks to how beautifully written it is and how well the characters are brought to life that I didn't get tired of the slow pace, I was hooked. I was also completely sobbing by the end. I really enjoyed having Hed characters who allowed us to see Beartown and the events of the last two books through a different perspective both in terms of how these new characters experienced those events and showing a comparison to other people's similar but different stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Animal death, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Sexual violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, Car accident, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, and Suicide