Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

23 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

If I'm being honest I was really scared to get into this book because although I really liked Beartown (I read it like months ago). I thought the book was very slow and took a while for me to get into, but I ended up loving it. I didn't know there would be sequels otherwise I would've read them back to back. I hadn't read a book from this author since Beartown so I was afraid that I'd be intimidated by the writing and the length of the book. I'm so glad I was worried for nothing because I ended up loving the book of course.

However, I don't what it was but it did take me a long time to finish it (about seven days). Like for the first few days, I would only read about 30 pages a day and then not have the urge to pick up the book which is weird because the book was still good, I guess I just wasn't in the right mood for those couple days.

What did help was as I was reading this book I was also watching the show that they made for the first book; that also got me into the mood to read the book so that was great. 

I love the themes the book explored and how it handled the aftereffects of Maya's r@pe and how the town's people reacted. Once I got into it again I just couldn't believe but adored the way that Backman wrote in through his multiple third-person narratives. There were parts of politics in this book that I found both confusing and also intriguing. I  really wish I understood politics. I was so invested in what Rochard Theo was planning and how he was able to bend everyone to do what he wanted. Loved Benji and Amat and Bobo! And also I'm really feeling for Leo, I hope we get more of him in the next book. I also like how hopeful the ending (and everything else) was without being all "happily ever after"-like. I think I would've rated it book 5 stars if it were for the fact that it just took me so long to finish it.

Ana outting Benji for being gay was the ultimate sign of disrespect for me. I did not like her character after that and personally didn't feel like she deserved to be forgiven.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Dementia, and Alcohol

edgaranjapoe's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bridget_t's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

breadwitchery's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, and Vomit

aromarrie's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

jennneely82's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, and Outing

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

nyiestra's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Blood

ivana's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

suprita's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

“Perhaps one day he’ll find words for that feeling of being different. How physical it is. Exclusion is a form of exhaustion that eats its way into your skeleton... Three little words used to describe weakness, stupidity, anything that didn’t function properly. Anything that was defective... It’s only words. Only letters. Only a human being.”

Welcome back to Beartown. A town that lost its way, fell and is now dying. In Us Against You, Fredrik Backman brings us a heart wrenching story of two towns, two teams, and what it means to believe in something bigger than yourself. One post does not do justice to this book. 2,200 characters is not enough. For this post I’m going to focus on how the book made me feel. So, this is not really a book review.

Backman takes words and turns them into something more. He turns them into emotions. And then he uses those very emotions to break your heart. If Beartown was the author ripping our hearts out, Us Against You is him throwing it on the floor and stomping on it while you helplessly watch from a corner. Because you can’t stop yourself. Because he’s that good. Backman is famous for writing books that test you not only as a reader but also as a person. It’s hard to read this book, but as the Bears from Beartown will tell you with a grin, “It’s supposed to be hard”.

I loved it and I hated it. I laughed and I cried. I shut the book and threw it away. I picked it back up and held it close. I took many breaks in between but I always came back for more, because by then this book and it’s characters had become a part of me. Their wins were mine to savour and their tragedies were mine to bear, and trust me there’s plenty of both in this book.

Backman is a master when it comes to writing grey characters. You can dislike his characters but never hate them because he’ll make sure to show you that they are only human after all, flawed and imperfect like all of us. He is not afraid of tarnishing his “heroes” and redeeming his “villains”.

Read this one. But be sure to pace yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Homophobia, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Drug use, and Self harm