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4.51 AVERAGE
4.51 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book will stick with me for the rest of my life š
Wow, I donāt even know where to begin. This entire series was wonderful and so full of emotion. The characters endure a lot of darkness in that beautiful forest. I hate how the book ended but loved it at the same time. Like I said this book invokes a lot of emotions.
āThis hurts too much to touch with words.ā
āThis hurts too much to touch with words.ā
Long, but good, end to the saga.
We are the Bears from Beartown!
We are the Bears from Beartown!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Winners. Whoo boy, the Winners. I didn't love it. I did love Beartown. Only once before can I remember really really wishing that an author had not written a sequel to a book I loved. I wish the author had not written The Winners. I didn't love Us Against You or find it necessary, but I really didn't love The Winners. It was long and draggy, the plot and characters meandered all over the place so much that I almost forgot about certain storylines by the time they reappeared, almost every character got short shrift, and the author kept dropping heavy hints about the Bad Thing that was going to happen before the end. And then thereās the Bad Thing. My biggest reaction while reading The Winners was Wow, Fredrik Backman is really Going Through Some Things. The Winners was sad and depressing, and (spoiler) the dies. Yes. And also (big big big spoiler) Fredrik Backman, how could you? *sobs in Beartown*
Fredrik Backman has a very particular writing style, and most readers either like it or they don't. I do. But I have become emotionally invested in the people of Beartown and Hed and found The Winners painful to read (especially the foreshadowing). It was actually quite anxiety producing - I found myself dreading picking it back up even though I really wanted to know what happened next. My not reading it couldnāt change the fact that the author had written it. But so much trauma.
An important character dies early in The Winners, and Backman chose not to reveal who, while throwing red herrings at us, for the first one fifth of the book. I found that a bit of a cheap trick. There were way too many plot threads, and some of the messaging was very heavy handed. Like Beartown, The Winners reminded me of J.K. Rowlingās The Casual Vacancy. Maybe The Winners was more painful to read because I had spent two previous books with the characters.
I really struggled with a rating. There are plenty of five star passages, and the climax moved me to tears. Knowing what Backman is capable of, itās hard to award him five stars for The Winners. I did not enjoy it. But it certainly takes skill to break me up over a fictional character.
If you have read and loved Beartown and Us Against Them, read The Winners at your own risk. If you have not yet read the Beartown trilogy, I envy you getting to sit down and read them one after the other, without the long waits in between. Or maybe you should just stop after Beartown. I donāt know, when I have more time maybe Iāll go back and read all three a second time and see how they work as one long book.
I read an advance reader copy of The Winners from Netgalley.
Now Iām going to go focus on the movie version of a A Man Called Ove starring Tom Hanks coming soon!
Spoiler
dogSpoiler
my favorite character Benji dies.Fredrik Backman has a very particular writing style, and most readers either like it or they don't. I do. But I have become emotionally invested in the people of Beartown and Hed and found The Winners painful to read (especially the foreshadowing). It was actually quite anxiety producing - I found myself dreading picking it back up even though I really wanted to know what happened next. My not reading it couldnāt change the fact that the author had written it. But so much trauma.
An important character dies early in The Winners, and Backman chose not to reveal who, while throwing red herrings at us, for the first one fifth of the book. I found that a bit of a cheap trick. There were way too many plot threads, and some of the messaging was very heavy handed. Like Beartown, The Winners reminded me of J.K. Rowlingās The Casual Vacancy. Maybe The Winners was more painful to read because I had spent two previous books with the characters.
I really struggled with a rating. There are plenty of five star passages, and the climax moved me to tears. Knowing what Backman is capable of, itās hard to award him five stars for The Winners. I did not enjoy it. But it certainly takes skill to break me up over a fictional character.
If you have read and loved Beartown and Us Against Them, read The Winners at your own risk. If you have not yet read the Beartown trilogy, I envy you getting to sit down and read them one after the other, without the long waits in between. Or maybe you should just stop after Beartown. I donāt know, when I have more time maybe Iāll go back and read all three a second time and see how they work as one long book.
I read an advance reader copy of The Winners from Netgalley.
Now Iām going to go focus on the movie version of a A Man Called Ove starring Tom Hanks coming soon!
Backman is a wonderful writer. His prose is lyrical and he manages to convey a connection to his characters that is personal and intimate. I have read the other two titles in the series and agree with others that it isn't necessary to have read the others to read this; nonetheless, it would be the better approach to start with Beartown as most of the characters in the Winners are from the other titles and their stories are continued here.
My only reason for 4 not 5 starts is that I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters, their stories and traits. I think the story would have benefited from some "tightening up" of the narrative.
I received the book -- a real *print* book! -- through a good reads giveaway (my first one!) and was most grateful. I can highly recommend this book as well as the other in this series.
A talented writer.
My only reason for 4 not 5 starts is that I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters, their stories and traits. I think the story would have benefited from some "tightening up" of the narrative.
I received the book -- a real *print* book! -- through a good reads giveaway (my first one!) and was most grateful. I can highly recommend this book as well as the other in this series.
A talented writer.
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