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Brian's Reviews > The Winners
The Winners (Beartown, #3)
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“Guilt is always stronger than logic.� (1.5 stars)
It is early in 2025, but I have a feeling that THE WINNERS may win the “most disappointing book of the year award� for me this year. What a waste of time. Not once in this 673-page book did I feel invested in it. In fact, I should have put it down. This is a classic example of a self-indulgent book, one where the author is too big for his editors to say, “This is 400 pages too long!� And that is not an exaggeration, this is an overwritten novel. There are entire chapters that are superfluous to the plot.
The biggest problem with this text is that I was halfway done with it, and I still had no idea what it was supposed to be about. Its focus was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It boggles my mind that a concluding text in a trilogy could be so unfocused. Which tells me that the author had no story he needed to tell, he just wrote the thing because he was supposed to. After BEARTOWN (the first book in the series) Mr. Backman should have pulled the plug on this series. That novel is fine as a standalone book.
Quotes:
� “Naïve dreams are love’s last line of defense…�
� “…because no one stands a chance if they are alone.�
� “People say that our worst moments reveal who our friends are, but of course most of all we reveal ourselves.�
� “It’s only a story, it might not even be true, but that doesn’t mean it’s improbable.�
� “The most unbearable thing about death is that the world just goes on.�
� “Warriors are supposed to love other men, not fall in love with them.�
� “Everyone dreams about being invisible sometimes, no one dreams of being transparent.�
� “Time is unreliable when it comes to those we love.�
� “The lack of words is worse than loneliness.�
� “It’s the same everywhere: almost everyone loves too much, hates too easily, forgives too little.�
And just as you are getting to the falling action and the conclusion of this tome, Mr. Backman gives the reader another kick in the nads because the final pages of this book are bad. Like Instagram poetry pages bad! There are so many stupid and uninspired threads in this novel that the conclusion takes over 40 pages for the author to give each of them an overwrought, and mostly unrealistic, ending.
Goodness, I wished I had skipped THE WINNERS.
I will still read Mr. Backman, but I will be more selective about it.
It is early in 2025, but I have a feeling that THE WINNERS may win the “most disappointing book of the year award� for me this year. What a waste of time. Not once in this 673-page book did I feel invested in it. In fact, I should have put it down. This is a classic example of a self-indulgent book, one where the author is too big for his editors to say, “This is 400 pages too long!� And that is not an exaggeration, this is an overwritten novel. There are entire chapters that are superfluous to the plot.
The biggest problem with this text is that I was halfway done with it, and I still had no idea what it was supposed to be about. Its focus was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It boggles my mind that a concluding text in a trilogy could be so unfocused. Which tells me that the author had no story he needed to tell, he just wrote the thing because he was supposed to. After BEARTOWN (the first book in the series) Mr. Backman should have pulled the plug on this series. That novel is fine as a standalone book.
Quotes:
� “Naïve dreams are love’s last line of defense…�
� “…because no one stands a chance if they are alone.�
� “People say that our worst moments reveal who our friends are, but of course most of all we reveal ourselves.�
� “It’s only a story, it might not even be true, but that doesn’t mean it’s improbable.�
� “The most unbearable thing about death is that the world just goes on.�
� “Warriors are supposed to love other men, not fall in love with them.�
� “Everyone dreams about being invisible sometimes, no one dreams of being transparent.�
� “Time is unreliable when it comes to those we love.�
� “The lack of words is worse than loneliness.�
� “It’s the same everywhere: almost everyone loves too much, hates too easily, forgives too little.�
And just as you are getting to the falling action and the conclusion of this tome, Mr. Backman gives the reader another kick in the nads because the final pages of this book are bad. Like Instagram poetry pages bad! There are so many stupid and uninspired threads in this novel that the conclusion takes over 40 pages for the author to give each of them an overwrought, and mostly unrealistic, ending.
Goodness, I wished I had skipped THE WINNERS.
I will still read Mr. Backman, but I will be more selective about it.
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Reading Progress
February 1, 2025
–
Started Reading
February 1, 2025
– Shelved
February 1, 2025
– Shelved as:
fiction
March 1, 2025
–
Finished Reading
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Dan
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Mar 01, 2025 11:17AM
I’ve read a few of his earlier books and enjoyed them, but appreciate knowing to stay away from this one. Thanks for an informative review.
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Thanks, Dan! I usually enjoy his work too, but skip this one!Dan wrote: "I’ve read a few of his earlier books and enjoyed them, but appreciate knowing to stay away from this one. Thanks for an informative review."
Super review, Brian. You’ve touched on one of my pet peeves in publishing today - the author who is too successful to be subjected to reasonable editing. It seems there are more and more of them these days, and I can’t decide whether they are being self-indulgent or are just lazy. I’m impressed that you made it through 673 pages. I would have given up long before that!
I should have dropped it, Barbara K. I'm a little irritated at myself that I didn't.Barbara K wrote: "Super review, Brian. You’ve touched on one of my pet peeves in publishing today - the author who is too successful to be subjected to reasonable editing. It seems there are more and more of them th..."
Spot-on review. Bummer, because it was a really good series before this book.Cheers and happy reading to you, Brian!
Appreciate that, Amos. Glad that others feel the same. It wasn't just me.Happy reading to you as well!
Amos wrote: "Spot-on review. Bummer, because it was a really good series before this book.
Cheers and happy reading to you, Brian!"
Darn it! I really enjoyed the first two in the series. I will read this and hope for the best. I read Anxious People by Bakman and wasn’t very enthusiastic about it.
Maybe it will work for you, Melanie?I have not read ANXIOUS PEOPLE, but a few of my friends have and it did not work for them either.
Melanie wrote: "Darn it! I really enjoyed the first two in the series. I will read this and hope for the best. I read Anxious People by Bakman and wasn’t very enthusiastic about it."
