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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Björnstadt by Fredrik Backman

115 reviews

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This  book- 
I literally have no words…
It destroyed me and put me back together again

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dark 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: Complicated

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Right from the beginning this book feels ominous. Ominous and quiet and foreboding and profound. In a way, it reminds me of Twin Peaks or the movie Fargo in that it tells a big story woven together by little slice-of-life insights into being human with a lot darkness hanging over the whole thing.

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

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emotional mysterious tense 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

This was an amazing thrill of a book! I cannot wait to read the next one. Beartown manages to be a complex small town one that is focused on Economics but driven by so much more. This book starts off slow but by chapter 7 becomes increasingly more chaotic. This book has Hockey, Politics, Economics, and People at its core. The people are what pull you in because they are so relatable, because really, what are you supposed to do when you get stuck between a rock and a hard place?

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dark emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The thing holding me back from a 5 star review is the fact that I would never read this books again. That doesn’t make it less of a masterpiece, because it is. But damn did it hit close to home. Please check trigger warnings before you read, especially if you’ve been a victim of or have had a family member or friend experience SA. 

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. 

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dark emotional 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

It is rare that I have to stop reading to laugh out loud, but I did in this case.  
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.

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

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dark emotional funny reflective

Jag tycker att den här boken var bra men jävlar vad känslosam och gripande. 

Boken handlar om en hockeystad och dess invånare. Huvudfokus ligger på sportchefen och hans familj. Även stort fokus på hockey laget. 

Rekommenderar starkt till den som vill ha en bok att tänka till om och reflektera. Oerhört känslosam så kolla TW innan. Rekommenderar minst 15+. 

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