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A review by fulltimefiction
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
5.0
This book hit me like a bucket of ice cold water.
How long has it been since a book truly surprised me?? So long! Years. I know my reading taste pretty well and almost always know I’m going to like/dislike a book beforehand. In most cases, I’m indifferent nowadays and my ratings range between 2 and 4 stars.
People say if you know you won’t like a book why bother?? This is why I still read books I don’t think I’m going to like. To find ones like Beartown.
I knew many loved it but I didn’t think that famous writing style will work for me. I loved it.
Want to know why this book is so good? Because the characters are super realistic. The narration style will keep you captivated. Sure, it might not work for everyone. I won’t do this book justice. Just read it and judge for yourself. You’ll probably like it.
This isn’t enough to motivate anyone so let me tell you a bit about me.
I love reading fantasy. I struggle with reading fiction more often than not. Hence, I mostly listen to fiction audiobooks. (PS: this book would make a nice audiobook but no, it so much better read instead).
I assumed this will be 2 stars read. 3 at best. And I have pretty good damn instincts when it comes to books, or at least books I know won’t like. And books I believe I’ll love. This book belonged to the first category. But everyone was reading Backman on Instagram and if there’s something I try to do (call me materialistic or whatever you want) is reading what’s popular at the moment. I’d be able to know what people are talking about and then agree or disagree. A friend advised me to start with this book -which I had no intentions whatsoever of reading. A few weeks later, I did. And here we are.
I know many don’t like first-person narratives but it always makes it easier for me to read a story. The book told from the third perspective takes time to get into. But here? It’s even worse. The narrator is omniscient. It’s not like Backman simply jumps from one mind to another at the same time but more like tells the story of many characters. For some, it’s just one chapter or less. Others stay with us throughout the story. It’s not like the characters were telling us the story but rather the narrator telling us about them. And damn if I don’t hate it when authors jump from one pov to another and “know it all”.
The first 35% (or so) almost nothing happens. Backman is simply telling us about several characters in his story. How boring.
Even later, there isn’t a whole deal that’s happening.
All these are exactly what I expected before I started this book and they were all there.
Yet
I was never bored.
I loved the writing style; it was so relaxing and calming. I’m not sure how to describe it but reading this book was peaceful (please don’t confuse it with the story itself because the main topics was rape and it was handled very well. It was difficult to read those parts and I was so angry at some people). But I was living in this small cold Swedish town and I was rooting for the hockey team like everyone in it.
I cared about our flawed characters a lot. Well, most of them. And Benji.
I loved the narration style.
I was always on the edge of my seat. The hockey match? It’s been so long that I was so excited/omg who will win/please you win. And I don’t remember ever feeling so anxious and worried about a sports match in books.
I grew to love hockey with our characters.
I couldn’t stop reading.
From chapter one the writing was so captivating and the story (EVEN IF NOT MUCH WAS HAPPENING) very interesting that I thought “it’s too good, weird I’m liking, what’s wrong with me? It’s fine Nicole, it’ll get worse don’t worry.”
The Swedish setting and jokes. Ha. So I know a lot about two countries other than mine (neighboring countries excluded): the USA and Sweden. And I know how Swedes can be. I appreciated the humor very much.
Honestly, every reason I expected to work against this book worked for it. The other book that slapped me quite hard on the face was in 2015. I hope the next book won’t be in 5 years now too.
I recommend this book to anyone. I wanted to add this book to my all-time favorites but I don’t think I will. Though I doubt I’ll read a better book this year. We shall see
How long has it been since a book truly surprised me?? So long! Years. I know my reading taste pretty well and almost always know I’m going to like/dislike a book beforehand. In most cases, I’m indifferent nowadays and my ratings range between 2 and 4 stars.
People say if you know you won’t like a book why bother?? This is why I still read books I don’t think I’m going to like. To find ones like Beartown.
I knew many loved it but I didn’t think that famous writing style will work for me. I loved it.
Want to know why this book is so good? Because the characters are super realistic. The narration style will keep you captivated. Sure, it might not work for everyone. I won’t do this book justice. Just read it and judge for yourself. You’ll probably like it.
This isn’t enough to motivate anyone so let me tell you a bit about me.
I love reading fantasy. I struggle with reading fiction more often than not. Hence, I mostly listen to fiction audiobooks. (PS: this book would make a nice audiobook but no, it so much better read instead).
I assumed this will be 2 stars read. 3 at best. And I have pretty good damn instincts when it comes to books, or at least books I know won’t like. And books I believe I’ll love. This book belonged to the first category. But everyone was reading Backman on Instagram and if there’s something I try to do (call me materialistic or whatever you want) is reading what’s popular at the moment. I’d be able to know what people are talking about and then agree or disagree. A friend advised me to start with this book -which I had no intentions whatsoever of reading. A few weeks later, I did. And here we are.
I know many don’t like first-person narratives but it always makes it easier for me to read a story. The book told from the third perspective takes time to get into. But here? It’s even worse. The narrator is omniscient. It’s not like Backman simply jumps from one mind to another at the same time but more like tells the story of many characters. For some, it’s just one chapter or less. Others stay with us throughout the story. It’s not like the characters were telling us the story but rather the narrator telling us about them. And damn if I don’t hate it when authors jump from one pov to another and “know it all”.
The first 35% (or so) almost nothing happens. Backman is simply telling us about several characters in his story. How boring.
Even later, there isn’t a whole deal that’s happening.
All these are exactly what I expected before I started this book and they were all there.
Yet
I was never bored.
I loved the writing style; it was so relaxing and calming. I’m not sure how to describe it but reading this book was peaceful (please don’t confuse it with the story itself because the main topics was rape and it was handled very well. It was difficult to read those parts and I was so angry at some people). But I was living in this small cold Swedish town and I was rooting for the hockey team like everyone in it.
I cared about our flawed characters a lot. Well, most of them. And Benji.
I loved the narration style.
I was always on the edge of my seat. The hockey match? It’s been so long that I was so excited/omg who will win/please you win. And I don’t remember ever feeling so anxious and worried about a sports match in books.
I grew to love hockey with our characters.
I couldn’t stop reading.
From chapter one the writing was so captivating and the story (EVEN IF NOT MUCH WAS HAPPENING) very interesting that I thought “it’s too good, weird I’m liking, what’s wrong with me? It’s fine Nicole, it’ll get worse don’t worry.”
The Swedish setting and jokes. Ha. So I know a lot about two countries other than mine (neighboring countries excluded): the USA and Sweden. And I know how Swedes can be. I appreciated the humor very much.
Honestly, every reason I expected to work against this book worked for it. The other book that slapped me quite hard on the face was in 2015. I hope the next book won’t be in 5 years now too.
I recommend this book to anyone. I wanted to add this book to my all-time favorites but I don’t think I will. Though I doubt I’ll read a better book this year. We shall see