Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Kleine Stadt der großen Träume by Fredrik Backman

34 reviews

amberinbookland's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

This is a tough one to review. I feel like I should rate this higher simply because I do agree that it is an important read but the truth is, I just didn't think that it was particularly well executed. The characters were very two dimensional and considering what the book was trying to comment on, I was disappointed by how little page-time the victim was given. 

I could have put this down at any time because it just wasn't engaging to me. I actually preferred Britt-Marie Was Here, which is one of Backman's lower rated books on goodreads, because the characters in that novel were fully fleshed out and it was edited in a way that made it succinct, whereas Beartown could have been at least 100 pages shorter.

I own the sequel and I'll probably give it a try at some point but I doubt whether I'll finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

emusing's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm, Blood, and Medical content

For many of these things, they are not described graphically, but they are central to the premise of the book, so if you don't want to think about rape or violence, you will have a problem. There are also several moments which Backman writes around to make you think that one thing is about to happen, but in the next section reveals that it was not part of the plan all along.

For example, Zacharias goes into the school thinking about suicide and carrying a bucket to stand on when he hangs himself (you think), but it's actually a bucket of water to wash hate speech off of lockers. There are also fake-out moments about homophobia when David discovers that Benji is gay, and when Maya goes out, supposedly to kill someone.

katiedoesntftba's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse

book_banter's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was probably my favourite read of 2020. Backman has us follow a cast of flawed, yet loveable characters through vignettes as he weaves together a story of a tragedy that will change a little hockey town forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, and Violence