Reviews tagging 'Death'

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

156 reviews

sparklefarm's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

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Marin Ireland and Fredrik Backman are a match made in heaven. But almost 3 hours in, I'm not sure where the story is going or even whose story it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Terminal illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Police brutality, Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual assault, Death of parent

readitandweep001's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Halfway through this books I remained unconvinced I would truly connect with the story. That judgement had nothing to do with writing but rather with the characters. In the beginning I wasn’t able to fully connect to the characters’ struggles but at some point I unexpectedly found myself loving them. The writing itself is exquisite; it manages to be incredibly deep and reflective without coming off repetitive or pretentious (a seemingly hard task for many writers). The only reason this wasn’t 5 stars for me was because I couldn’t connect to the character for over half the book, but that’s reader error and speaks nothing of the contents in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Homophobia

adrirowe77's review against another edition

4.75

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence

Minor: Cursing, Death

kcfralix's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts

torianne's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring 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: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia

hmih's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

anderson27paige's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

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I love Backman's writing ability. The way he is able to so intricately discuss emotions and the human condition and shine light in areas that most books shy away from, is truly a remarkable talent. This book made me feel all the feelings and actually felt a bit like a thriller in the sense that I was constantly trying to figure out the story and was in suspense throughout the whole book. The only reason this wasn't a 5 star for me is that I do feel like it was hard to keep track of the timing of everything because we kept jumping back and forth from past to present timelines but the past timelines was jumbled and would jump all around. I also felt that Ted's telling of the story was rather scrambled and drawn out. There are multiple times in the book where we're led to believe that we're finally going to get some answers, but then it's just another side story. Idk I loved the book, would highly recommend it, I just felt that it left me a bit confused at times and wishing we could jump forward a bit in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts

eautio616's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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Grab your tissues! This book made me cry in most chapters and it was still one of the best books I’ve ever read. Deep, real, and lovely despite also being heartbreaking.
The audio was fantastic. Highly recommend listening- I’d give it 10 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence

risemini's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol

sunshine_mel's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent