A review by const_elle_ations
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rating: 4 stars

i have so much to say about this book!!  it did what it set out to do so well - i'm just not sure if what it set out to do was 100% my thing.  the focus on community and the intersection of lives was fantastic and reminded me of this is us in the way it was constantly switching between both characters, slowly adding more and more, and times.  the way the interpersonal relationships were portrayed felt very complex and cool - there's a review on the back of the book that says that "in this small town, backman shows the world", and i think that's pretty true.  it can be applied to a lot of tightly-knit communities (i saw my robotics team in some parts of this book).  i like how there's no clear main character - though if i had to pick, i'd say it's peter and kira.

i think what fell flat for me was the characters - while the relationships between them were fleshed out beautifully, the characters themselves felt semi-cliched and vague (at least some of them.  i'd say a couple felt like they could be real people - peter, kira, ana, and david at times).  i wanted less of an overarching, faraway look at what was happening and more of the zoomed-in, real-time emotional reactions of the characters to the rape accusations - especially the reactions of maya, kevin, and benji.  i do think there was more of a focus on the adults, which makes sense because it's an adult book, but that made a lot of it feel detached to me.  i think if some of the characters felt more personable, it'd be SO much more agonizing to read about their actions - especially the more "gray" characters. 

i like the truth-telling writing style - it reminded me of my favorite parts of the raven boys.  it felt a little heavy-handed and pretentious sometimes, but i like that sort of thing.  i haven't read the reviews yet, but i suspect that's probably most people's gripe with this book if they have any.  that, and the pacing, which was admittedly pretty slow for like...the whole book (i was expecting the party to happen a lot earlier in the book, not halfway, and...thought there's be more action/plot?) 

that being said, i really loved how much the book tackled and how well it did it.  the way it talked about rape culture felt so real and ugly and i wanted to reach into the book and punch pretty much everyone but ana, benji, ramona, and the anderssons.  i loved the climax -
i was like no WAY she's gonna kill him and then she pulled the trigger and my mouth dropped.  but she's better than him.  so the line "now you're always going to be scared of the dark" interspersed with them ten years on.  oh god.  the cinema.  i adore backman's mind for this.  there are so many LAYERS.
i could talk about the symbolism in that scene for days. 
  and the way it both praised loving a sport (or, really, being obsessed with anything), and how that's a lifeline to the people who need it, and how excluding it can be to those who aren't let in (robotics call out again, yay).  the page where ana talks about how much she loves hockey and how they won't let her made me start crying.  her frustration was so tangible and i wish we could've seen more about her.

i'll definitely finish the series if only to find out which of the boys dies, becomes a father, and plays professional.  that was so out of pocket.  selfishly, i'm hoping the next two books have more of a focus on the teenagers.
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