Reviews with content warning for Violence - Björnstadt

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Björnstadt by Fredrik Backman

701 reviews

arianelaxo's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

The first third sets the stage. Beartown is a hockey town, and we learn what that looks like and feels like. Way more characters are introdu ed than I thought I could keep straight in my head (but did somehow anyway).

The second third: a series of events that changes the direction entirely.

The third third: I shake my head, cry, yell at the characters - at a mob who are written so well, so realistically, I feel despair for our world.

The final pages: hope for the future.

Content Warnings

mr_maneki_neko's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 37%

I don’t need to add pain to my life voluntarily. I wasn’t enjoying the read.

Content Warnings

mairah's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Content Warnings

macliffe's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional sad slow-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 whole time reading Beartown I was in complete awe of Fredrick Backman’s ability to tap into the human experience. He can say things a in such a poignant way because he says the things we know we shouldn’t think, that are too blunt or too irrational to even admit to ourselves. It’s this depth and this consistency of quality that has me looking for my next Backman book even as I know I will not continue with this series.

This book was quite the struggle. It thumps on your chest over and over again messages like, “no one can be trusted” “you will always be afraid of the dark” and “all men are evil”. Which makes perfect sense for a book about rape. There were other things like the locker room talk that were hard to wade through at times. I am glad for this realistic treatment, but it was very crude and/or heavy.

I think this is an important book. I would recommend it to certain people. I would not read it again.

Content Warnings

molliestevens's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

vix682's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

This story ripped me apart and stitched me back together. I was taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions 😭 The way Fredrik Backman writes gives his characters, the setting, and their dynamics such depth!
P.S. 💜 Benji

Content Warnings

shoshw's review against another edition

3.0

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

barath_6023's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

0/5 stars, there's not a single bear in Beartown. So misleading...

But really, when I first started reading, I kept losing track of the characters and as for some of them, I didn't think they'd be any interesting. How wrong I was. It took some time to find more details but at a point, I was interested in seeing more of their story.

The book is about hockey, but it's also about hockey culture. The story is also about the perils of sports obsession and putting people on pedestals. It gets murkier with discussions of whether hockey and sports, in general, exist in a vacuum. Almost every character's decisions are given unique motivations and reasoning, and that made it a lot more reflective. The collective, small-town nature of Beartown is evident in the people as well.

The writing sets the cold atmosphere of the town and in the people, and how they bring warmth to it. The diverse reactions of the people to the main turning point were well-explored and it all felt real. Empathy, apathy, hate, confusion....it was all there.

Content Warnings

shiradfrankel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

colleen9375's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

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