Review by noelleingway - Beartown

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noelleingway 's review for:

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

3.75

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved this book until the

rape happens halfway through the book - it's hard to explain, but the town's reaction and her emotions felt too real and clinical. I know fiction isn't always intended to uplift when exploring serious topics, I didn't feel like it added anything to my own artistic explorations and knowledge. I know how badly rape cases go when the perpetrator is well loved in a small community. It only drove the knife in further and made me sad.

This put me off of the otherwise heartwarming exploration of a town and its messy dynamics and relationship with hockey, which I greatly enjoyed! the character writing was superb.

Content Warnings