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A review by girlnextshore
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
5.0
Beautiful. Possibly one of three books I’ve read in the past few years that I will recommend to anyone of any age or gender. And I’ve read quite a lot.
It offers the same amount of heart - if not more - as Friday Night Lights, but with hockey instead of football. It’s about a small town shaken by a catastrophic turn of events, where loyalties and morals are questioned, real friendships are tested, and “what good looks like” may not actually be really good.
The characters are all believable, and whilst I’m naturally more drawn to some, I can also see the human complexities in others that make them quite interesting, too.
It tackles quite a number of issues and the writing (at least in the English translation) is fairly sensitive. From misogynistic backslapping to rape, from sports politics to community, from growing pains and bullying to homophobia. I won’t necessarily classify this as a YA novel but I would recommend this to the younger ones. There is a lot to learn from this book.
I couldn’t put it down. And I can’t especially articulate every reason why I found this moving, but it just blew me away with its heart and sensitivity. Highly recommended.
I actually liked it so much I ordered the sequel straight after.
It offers the same amount of heart - if not more - as Friday Night Lights, but with hockey instead of football. It’s about a small town shaken by a catastrophic turn of events, where loyalties and morals are questioned, real friendships are tested, and “what good looks like” may not actually be really good.
The characters are all believable, and whilst I’m naturally more drawn to some, I can also see the human complexities in others that make them quite interesting, too.
It tackles quite a number of issues and the writing (at least in the English translation) is fairly sensitive. From misogynistic backslapping to rape, from sports politics to community, from growing pains and bullying to homophobia. I won’t necessarily classify this as a YA novel but I would recommend this to the younger ones. There is a lot to learn from this book.
I couldn’t put it down. And I can’t especially articulate every reason why I found this moving, but it just blew me away with its heart and sensitivity. Highly recommended.
I actually liked it so much I ordered the sequel straight after.