Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Beartown

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

597 reviews

strawberrygal's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

The most amazing book I’ve ever read. Time and time again Fredrik Backman amazes me with his unique way of writing characters in a way that feels so deeply personal to the reader. He has really outdone himself with Beartown. My emotions swung from crying to laughter with every page and the storytelling kept an incredible grip on me. Not to mention the attention to details that make the story feel so much richer. The ending really ties everything together in a totally unexpected way. The plot twists were incredibly well written and threw me for a loop even when I thought I had everything figured out. This book is about so much more than hockey, it’s about love, courage, the faults and shortcoming of people, and so much more.
Truly a book that keeps you on your toes in the best way.

Content Warnings

baileewyatt's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It feels crazy having another 5 star so soon, but I can’t give this one any less. I heard this a bunch before starting the book but still was a little surprised by the impact so please please please read the trigger warnings before starting this book. This story is a heavy one but the way it’s written is so eloquent and beautiful that I really fell in love with it. I also was worried that with so many different points of view I would get lost or feel disconnected from some of the characters. However Fredrik Backman does such a good job of explaining them and showing us the important moments that I felt connected from beginning to end.

This is coming of age, it’s grief, it’s friendship, it’s love, it’s community…it’s so many things but not in a way that’s overwhelming or leaves more to be desired from one aspect, it’s so intricately woven together that at the end for better or worse you’re satisfied. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who really wants to feel when they’re reading. 5 stars from me!

Content Warnings

elizzabethanne's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark inspiring sad medium-paced

I wish all men would read this book. While this was very difficult to read at times because of the content, it was so beautifully written and handled so sensitively that I don’t feel emotionally destroyed or despondent about the state of the world but rather reminded that there are people out there that stand up for what’s right. We don’t need a culture of silence. We need a culture where we can talk about the difficult things with those we love and raise the next generation to not make the same mistakes over and over again. If you have a son, a brother, a father, a boyfriend, a husband, etc. please put this book in his hand and talk about it.

Content Warnings

almaprincess66's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

Ah shit. This book made me just as emotional as I thought it will make me. And honestly? I'm angry at it.

I feel like I have to start out that I don't like sports. But I expecially hate competitive sports. I will never understand them, never understand why would anyone like doing them. There are so many problems with competitiv sports and this book just proved it for me.

Like yes, oh my fucking god. Hockey is a violent sport. And for one to exceed in a violent sport they need to be in a certain headspace. They need to be raised in a certain headspace. One, in which men excell at briliantly. One that described this whole fucking town. Because the men raisd their boys to be hockey players. But they never taught them to leave it on the ice. That is why this whole book happened.

This is so incredibly written because it explains every single thing that is wrong with men, and then reasons it with both how it's wrong and how people can believe it's right. How soceity hurts the people. How they treat women. How they treat victims.

The whole aftermath of Maya's rape case boiled my blood. Because the town made Kevin, the older, stronger, more responsible out to be the victim. And while doing so Maya lost her name, she became the young woman, the liar, the bitch. I would point out how clever it was that they called Kevin a boy but Maya a young women. She was 15. She was younger, but they used the words to make her the villain. They put the blame on her just because they didn't wanted to deal with thinking that their star player did something bad.

And Maya? You are the strongest girl out there. I could have not done what you did. What any of the supporting characters did. I would have crumpled. But neither did Ana or Amat.

And as last. Benji deserved better. All characters deserved better, and I know that is the point. That they are set out for greatness but it's the town that they need to think of. But Benji. He was the person beside Maya who should have been allowed to burn the world down. I think I know how your story will end and I don't like it.

The conversations and viewpoints that I didn't mention, but were in the book should be checked out because they are amazing. They make you think. They make you understand even if you don't agree.

Still an amazing read from Backman. I'm just not putting myself trough more of it because then I can think of an ending that I like.

Thanks for my bookclub that we read this book! I hope we'll have an amazing conversation about it!

Content Warnings