shotani - Tumblr blog

[shotani]

help

[shotani]

im reading a book that said something that hit me,

“ That’s betrayal. David knows it’s a huge betrayal. There’s no other way to explain how much a grown man must have failed as a person if such a warrior of a boy could believe that his coach would be less proud of him if he were gay.

David hated himself for not being better than his dad. That’s the job of sons”

[shotani]

okay i have a confession

i went through the entire beartown trilogy picturing moritz seider as benji ovich

[shotani]

BOESER PLAYIN BASEBALL LETS GOOO

[shotani]

that puck was v much loose and i think the canucks should be very thankful for the quickness with which that ref blew the whistle

[shotani]

hi we wrote a william eklund primer with a bunch of stuff that we translated from swedish media, featuring:

his youtuber dad

gen z anthropology ft. thomas bordeleau

feuding with a baby: is that cool?

eldest daughter syndrome

alex holtz (the ultimate mind cow)

six degrees of mika zibanejad

local man trying to chew the red string of fate apart with his teeth

and more!

[shotani]

You know, when I see fictional characters who repress all their emotions, they're usually aloof and very blunt about keeping people at a distance, sometimes to an edgy degree—but what I don't see nearly enough are the emotionally repressed characters who are just…mellow.

Think about it. In real life, the person that's bottling up all their emotions is not the one that's brooding in the corner and snaps at you for trying to befriend them. More often than not, it's that friendly person in your circle who makes easy conversation with you, laughs with you, and listens and gives advice whenever you're upset. But you never see them upset, in fact they seem to have endless patience for you and everything around them—and so you call them their friend, you trust them. And only after months of telling them all your secrets do you realize…

…they've never actually told you anything about themselves.

[shotani]

It's utterly magnetic when a character's rage is quiet and precise. When they don't scream and throw things but they just b r e a t h e and very very calmly aim their fury like an arrow shooting inexorably towards the target of their wrath. It captures my attention, I lean in close, I wait for the hit. It never disappoints.

[shotani]

im obsessed with stories that have a fixed ending before they even start. stories with narrators who are crying as they tell it because there is only one way this can end.

there is only one way this can go.

stories where the characters might know how it all ends and beg the audience to change it, knowing they can't. stories where the characters are unaware, but given the people they are and the situations they're in- well, what else are they supposed to do?

stories that are loops. that start with everyone dying and getting back up again to do it one more time.

because this time, maybe, it will be different.

the narrator cries.

[shotani]

curious: has anyone both read beartown and watched reservation dogs

[shotani]

Man, I haven't read the third beartown book yet cause I know it'll rip out my heart and I need to be prepared for that but just reading those posts is making me feel some sort of way.

Every single Frederik Backman book is so good, and the way he humanizes his characters, his prose, just seem designed to people feel and cry. A man called ove is my personal favourite.

im so excited for you to read the winners! it made me cry to the point where i had to put the book down because i couldnt see through my tears anymore LOL

i hope you love love love it. beartown is truly the only series i can think of where every book was a 5/5, i was just as invested at the end of the last book as i was at the start of the first book.

backman has such a beautiful way of writing people because they feel so utterly human. i appreciate that across all his writing there isn’t a single ‘flawless’ character. you see characters at their strongest and at their weakest, you see them for the way they are and the way they want to be, you see them at their lowest. you see every single characters dreams and regrets and most intimate moments and it makes them feel so much more realistic and there’s something so raw about it.

please please please feel free to talk to me and to keep me updated whenever you read the third book! i love beartown so much and no one ik irl has read any of them lol i dont think i’ll ever get over this series

[shotani]

my bad y’all i didn’t mean to become a beartown account 💀

[shotani]

God, no one writes human beings as Fredrick Backman does

[shotani]

Hot take but William Lyt fucking sucks

[shotani]

the way he jumped out of the way as she was storming out so she wouldn’t have to go through anymore unwanted physical contact no matter how small it was??? benji ovich i would die for you

benji completely FUCKED UP that bathroom so maya would not get in trouble cause she was done with everything DONT HIT ME UP

[shotani]

*No new beartown content in several days*

Me, in the most whiny, overdramatic, aggrieved, sincerely put-upon voice you can imagine: *sighs dramatically* fiiinneee

~

Can y’all really believe Benji, at 17 fucking years old, had the moral fiber, backbone, and courage to completely and entirely cut his best friend and boy he was in love with out of his life because he knew Kevin raped a girl.

Like, I know it shouldn’t be that astounding and admirable because it’s pretty much a basic human decency thing, and the fact that it is so admirable and courageous says a lot about society and is super sad. But all the same, the entire fucking town turned against Maya. They all believed Kevin on instinct, without question. And even the people who suspected Kevin wasn’t innocent, like Kevin’s mom, Ann Katrine, and Hog, were unwilling to publicly align themselves as being against Kevin.

The entire goddamn town sided with Kevin.

Yet Benji, Kevin’s best friend since they were 7 years old, a boy who was in love with Kevin, had not a single second of moral debating or hesitation. He didn’t even for a second have or even entertain the desire to defend Kevin or deny what he’d done. He didn’t care about what he personally would lose, or what refusing to defend Kevin would mean for the team or the town at large. He loved Kevin, and still cared about him. But he knew what Kevin did, and he knew it was unforgivable. And he decided immediately, without hesitation, that he would never support or defend someone who treated women like that, even if it was someone he loved, even if it was someone he trusted and cared about more than anyone else, even if it was his best friend in the entire world. It didn’t matter that he loved Kevin. Benji was willing, in an instant, to end that lifelong friendship with the person he loved and trusted most. Because he knew that Kevin had raped a girl and he could never forgive that forget that. Because he has a heart full of compassion, kindness, and empathy. Because he has an unshakeable and innate sense of morality and justice. Because he knew what was right and what was wrong. At 17 years old.

Because… Damn.

[shotani]

She walks towards the school. Benji hesitates for an eternity before following her. She waits for him. Walks by his side. Their steps are slow; perhaps it looks as though they’re moving slowly, but they don’t creep into that corridor. They take it by storm.