Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Beartown

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

289 reviews

daniellekat's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Backman is so talented at writing characters with depth, emotion, and believable motivations. Just when you think you understand a character, Backman makes you reconsider. It's the reason why I love his books, but I struggled with Beartown. The plot was so heartbreaking and tense that it took a lot out of me. After reading a few chapters, I always felt like I had to both lie down and go running. Backman covered so many interesting topics relating to sports culture that wove together seamlessly. This was not a 'fun read' and I HIGHLY recommend checking out the content warnings before reading, but Fredrik Backman writes about intersecting lives and community like no one else. My only criticism was that the ending was a little flat for me. I'm super interested to see where the series goes from here, especially since I think his writing is best suited for stand-alones.

Content Warnings

jane_moriarty's review against another edition

1.5

emotional tense

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I can't help but compare this to one my favorites this year, Firekeepers Daughter. Both are about a community in a northern town where icehockey players are the kings, both deal in parts with rape culture and both start with a scene were someone gets shot in the woods and we slowly find out what happened. But Beartown doesn't come close to the way Firekeepers Daughter deals with character development, topics about the beautiful and dark aspects of a community and wisdoms about intergenerational trauma and healing.

Long rant coming up:

First half was a 1 star tbh. If you enjoy Facebook motivational quotes on random nature backgrounds this might be for you. I hated the writing style, eyerolled at every pseudo-deep chapter conclusion that were like every fucking page after we were introduced to yet another cliche character who will probably be forgotten for the rest of the book. Not that I could tell the hordes of icehockey playing teenage boys apart but whatever. The author writes like he doesn't trust his reader to understand a single word if he doesn't drive it home with several repetitions and idiotic meaningless punchlines a la "it doesn't take much to let go of your children - it just takes everything", "she doesn't tell him that she's proud of him - he doesn't tell her he already knows" and so on. Also in case you didn't get it by the fiftieth time: ICEHOCKEY IS LIKE SUPER IMPORTANT IN BEARTOWN!

The only story I was actually invested in were Benji and the bassist and the only reason this book gets two stars from me is the handling of the rape. The way this affects the victim and the way the community deals with it (or not) is written in a sensitive and imo realistic way, which not that many authors get right.

Listened on Spotify (german translation) for the popsugar reading challenge "a book about about an athlete/sport".

Content Warnings

nightstitch96's review against another edition

3.5

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

sevensableyes's review against another edition

4.5

emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love the writing style. The point-of-view changes were a little confusing at times (mostly just because I kept mixing up Peter and David). The victim-blaming was heavy handed. And while this is the start of a trilogy, I really feel no need to read more.

Content Warnings

jadedjill's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

Content Warnings

bxs's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Loved it! Interesting discussion on what makes us act the way we do

Content Warnings

piperashley21's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Backman is one of the only authors I know who can tackle such dark topics with such care and some levity. I didn’t realize how dark a turn this one would take to talk about sexual assault. However by the end I had a feeling of hope in my chest, hope for people who can change after reading a book and making a choice.

Content Warnings