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Graphic: Homophobia, Rape
Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, Sexism, Violence
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, Grief, Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship
Let's start by what I disliked. First, the enormous cast of characters. While this is a book about a town and its people, it didn't need to delve into the minds of so many characters, many of which added very little to the actual plot. It literally shoved in the reader's face that this was a book about a small town where everybody knows everybody and hockey is the one thing that keeps the town alive.
This is tied to the way the book is structured. At first, I thought it was interesting, but an entire book composed of snippets of characters' lives and thoughts quickly became repetitive. Because of this, the reader doesn't get to spend enough time with the main characters and each character felt incomplete by the end of the book. Besides that, on a few particularly emotional plot points , the snippets become shorter and manipulative, the narrator leading you to think something terrible is going to happen and then it doesn't (
Lastly, I really didn't like the writing style. It's full of aphorisms that are clearly meant to be thought-provoking, but instead tell the reader what to think and feel about the story (as opposed to, you know, letting the readers decide for themselves). I also didn't appreciate the heavy and way-too-obvious foreshadowing, which removed the tension from the story, as well as the insights into what these characters would feel and think about in the future. As a reader, I felt that I was too often told what the characters felt instead of shown what they were feeling. It was exhausting having a narrator constantly tell me things that I wanted to piece together myself.
Now, onto what I liked (but also felt could have been better). I liked the themes of the book. The small town experience and its sports culture (with its inherent violence, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia) was a really interesting theme to explore, but I feel like Backman tried too hard to write about everything that nothing felt truly, completely, deeply explored, partly because of the way he structured this book. And although it made me think about my own experiences living in a country obsessed with football (or soccer, whatever you call it), I felt that it added nothing new to the discussion.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Xenophobia
Minor: Child death, Vomit, Grief
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
It’s chock full of thoughtful and insightful commentary on the difficulties of being a person. What life does to us and what we do to each other. It’s cautionary tale after cautionary tale about all the ways we fail ourselves and one another. Backman uses his characters to point out our own foibles and blind spots. And I love how often he uses metaphors and similes to get across ideas and themes. There are so many and they’re so well done. They’re my favorite aspect of the book. [“Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone who’s freezing.”]
I love how unabashedly feminist the book is. It has a lot to say about the perils and insidiousness of misogyny without really having to SAY anything at all. I think Backman does an amazing job of showing how often women are casually disrespected, how often their talents are written off, their opinions dismissed, how they’re subject to the whims of violence and power of the men around them, how few people are willing to stand up for them. He also shows different ways they can take back the power that’s been taken from them and how hard it is to do so. Kira, Maya, Fatima, Adri, Jeanette, Kevin’s mom (who, rather appropriately due to her lack of agency, is never given a name) among others, all give us examples. Misogyny makes for a sinister background presence in this book.
I found it a little slow at times but Beartown is an extremely well written, powerful and thought-provoking work with important messages, great storytelling and excellent characters.
4 stars out of 5
⚠️ I honestly had no idea this was basically a story about Brock Turner. If I’d have known that, I probably wouldn’t have read it. This book was probably not one I should have picked up and I had a hard time getting through it. Heed the TW/CWs on this one, folks. 👇🏼
https://booktriggerwarnings.com/index.php?title=Beartown_by_Fredrik_Backman
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism
Fredrik Backman has a way of throwing you into a community and really, really making you understand it. Almost as if you’ve lived there your entire life. I find that fascinating about his writing. There’s a LOT of characters, but you feel like you understand all of them. (even if you hate them)
This story follows a team of hockey players, their families, friends, and the people who’s lives revolve around them in one way or another. It’s really, really honest.
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Pregnancy
In reality this book treat of a really serious subject... Rape Culture, but there were small joke here and there that were needed to change the mood a little. This was a great read and I would recommand it to anyone after they check the content warning section. I really appriciate that there were no graphic scene in this book.
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent