Susan’s Book Blog

  I made Benji for another dear friend, Raluca (@hedonicbooks on Instagram) for Christmas. One of her favorite books is Beartown and Benjamin Ovich is a beloved character from the book. (He was definitely *my* fave.)  I went back and forth on which logo to use but ended up deciding on the Swedish version that reads Björnstad since the book takes place in Sweden and was originally written in Swedish. I ended up going a little darker on his hair than I’d planned but Benji’s physical attributes weren’t too strongly focused on in the book as far as I could remember (and kindle searches didn’t help a lot either) so I figured it was fine. Benji’s head: Guy Lafleur (which is also the same head they use for TJ Oshie and one other, I think, but can’t remember which one.) Benji’s body: Jonathan Huberdeau (which I used the head for another project so it made it an even better deal!) I painted the uniform according to the colors as described in the book, using a little artistic license....

  Beartown   by Fredrik Backman 🥅   4 🏒 out of 5   🥅 Right from the beginning this book feels ominous. Ominous and quiet and foreboding and profound. In a way, it reminds me of Twin Peaks or the movie Fargo in that it tells a big story woven together by little slice-of-life insights into being human with a lot darkness hanging over the whole thing. It’s chock full of thoughtful and insightful commentary on the difficulties of being a person. What life does to us and what we do to each other. It’s cautionary tale after cautionary tale about all the ways we fail ourselves and one another. Backman uses his characters to point out our own foibles and blind spots. And I love how often he uses metaphors and similes to get across ideas and themes. There are so many and they’re so well done. They’re my favorite aspect of the book. [“Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone wh...