max theodore’s Reviews > The Winners > Status Update

as frustrated as i am at this book right now. bringing the "BANGBANG" thing back around from the very first book. yeah. that hits

backman can get really saccharine but his work always hits best when it's not trying to. case in point

"Once you graduated from high school in Beartown? Would you have stayed then?"
...
"Maybe I'd have gotten together with some crazy hockey guy and had a little house with a little yard and two children..."
...
"Are you happy, then? In that little house?"
"Yes. Yes, I probably am. But I write really bad songs."

“I know what ‘half-Russian’ means!’ Peter sighs.

‘First you want me to explain everything, now you don’t want me to explain anything…’ Zackell mutters in surprise.”

autistic zackell theory continues to win

“They’ll soon be grown men, and all they will talk about then as each year passes will be more about memories and less about dreams. This is the end of the age where everything is still possible.”

hey. fuck offffff

the fear in my heart for benji ovich.

“It was obviously a terrible year for everyone, but as usual no one seems to appreciate who the real victim was: a middle-aged man with large financial interests.”