Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

66 reviews

leelaamanda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

andrewhatesham's review

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Racism, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Classism, Vomit, Gun violence, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Pregnancy

meb1916's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I feel so conflicted about this book. It's so beautiful and so painful. I read it because of a recommendation that definitely didn't touch on how truly dark it is. It took me a long time to finish this because of how difficult the subject matter is. It's written about so truthfully that it hurts to read. You can easily imagine your own community, friends and family in the place of the people of Beartown. 
I think this book is incredibly important for a lot of reasons, and I'm grateful I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

caitlinava's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Drug use, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

the_gnat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Rape

lenor1058's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Very slow to begin with - to the point of wondering what the point is. Things happen i fell into it and loved it latterly 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Self harm, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

xiggy's review against another edition

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

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Goosebumps, chills, tears. I cannot express how much this book got under my skin. It took me a little bit to get into it—I wasn’t sure I was going to like it—but before I knew it, I was deeply invested in this town and these characters. I was never quite sure what they were going to do—characters I trusted made choices that hurt me and characters I hated made choices that I was rooting for. And some characters I just hated and some characters I just loved (one of those hockey boys in particular has my whole entire heart and then some). The reading experience is really immersive. I felt like I was somewhere in that town, in the forest. And Backman has a way of writing that takes such complex topics and puts them into really simple words. It’s sort of a detour from what I usually love but there’s just something about the way that he uses repetition is just so compelling and powerful. 

I also really like the way that, even though it’s the first in a series, it can also stand on its own. Even though I want to stay with these characters and see what happens next, it felt complete. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Bullying, Sexual assault, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Classism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia, Animal death, Dysphoria, and Panic attacks/disorders

claranasman02's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Gun violence, Rape, Child death, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Eating disorder

jenhawkins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

“It’s only a game. It only resolves tiny, insignificant things. Such as who gets validation. Who gets listened to. It allocates power and draws boundaries and turns some people into stars and others into spectators. That’s all.”

This book was nothing like I expected, and yet everything I have come to experience from this author. Fredrik Backman has a skill for creating the most compelling, most fleshed out crew of characters, very similar in some aspects to James McBride’s “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store”. He differentiates the more central voices and stories from others, but does not narrow his scope at all. The Beartown team, their friends, their parents and their parents’ friends, the woven tapestry of the town comes into full focus in this novel. The community has sharp, contrasting characters, some to root for and others to bristle up against.

I went into this book expecting a heartwarming tale about a hockey team fighting against all odds to succeed in a world that sees them as the underdogs. This is not that book. This book shines in its portrayal of the spectrum of human kindness and human fallibility, in spotlighting what distress and challenge does to different people. How their environment is not just a passive sleepy town in the forest, but a living and breathing PRESENCE in their lives, with expectations all its own. At its heart, this novel is about how perspective shapes the stories one tells to the world and to themselves. Passion, the destructive and healing powers of community, and a loss of innocence at all ages are fiercely returning themes as well. It was heart-wrenching and raw and persevering. I was hooked immediately.

The faults I had with this book were minor but bugged me enough to keep this one floating around 4 stars for me. One thing I noticed that gets on my nerves a bit in books is that some of the characters, the children in particular, did not speak to each other or to adults like people. They often said things that, while profound, did not match a natural person’s thoughts and opinions. Lines were often delivered for emotional impact and commentary on society rather than if they were being delivered to a best friend, or a mother. I also thought there was a bit of a leaning to wrap some of these story threads up too neatly. Some characters “learn their lesson” clean and clear, almost to give the book some strong sense of a hopeful ending. Perhaps this is part of the message of the novel, but I found it less compelling than the rest of Backman’s writing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Bullying, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Sexual content