Loved this book! A bit "Mystery, Alaska" with all the hockey references, a bit "Friday Night Lights" with how deeply invested the whole town is in hockey, but the plot twist that comes about 1/2 way in takes the story to a different level. Loved all the characters and the storyline. Backman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

A thousand wishes yesterday, one single one today. - Backman

Backman is back again with a deeply emotional story set in Beartown, a Hockey community . You don't need to be a sports fanatic to be drawn into the story about a Hockey Club and a single night that changes a town forever. Every character is developed well according to their individual role, the writing is intuitive and honest, the plot is ambitious and executed flawlessly. Beartown is a book you will be raving about to your family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers on the metro just for a chance to discuss your observations and the impact the themes had on you.

Another amazing read by Fredrick Backman! I love how I'm able to put his books on the shelf of my high school library. Thank you, Netgalley, for an amazing read!

Well I was born in a small town
And I can breathe in a small town
Gonna die in this small town
And that's prob'ly where they'll bury me
-- John Cougar Mellencamp

Beartown is a small town in Sweden, the kind of small town where people are born there, live there and die there, generation after generation. Beartown is, among other things, all about hockey. The lives of those who inhabit this small town are lived around the games, the practices, all the working out in-between. What little funds that are raised there seem to be raised to fund their hockey teams. Everyone makes sacrifices for the team, the game. Teachers, mothers and fathers, siblings, businesses all make sacrifices. The ones who pay with their time, as well, are the boys on the teams, their families, their coaches, and their leaders. Hockey rules all.

Of all those players that excel on and off the ice, there are a few that stand out, but Kevin Erdahl is really their star player. He has everything on the surface going for him – his grades are good, he’s popular with the guys - and girls. His family is one of the wealthiest in town.

Beartown knows it needs players like Kevin to lift this small town out of the slump it’s been in for too long. With a win in the semifinals of the junior tournament, they’d get attention, maybe more money would trickle down as a result, maybe even the long wished for hockey school this town needs. They all know with a big hockey school in town the rest would follow. The shopping malls, new and improved roads, more money means more jobs, too, something they desperately need. But it all depends on hockey, and hockey players like Kevin, like Benji, even Leo. Hockey is the heartbeat of Beartown.

Hockey is never satisfied being part of your life, it wants to be all of it.

With eyes aimed only the future, really their future, there are changes being planned, another variation of out with the old, in with the new… or younger version. The older coach, Sune, will be gone because he gives long speeches about them playing with their hearts, whereas the junior team coach’s speech consists of one word: Win.

And then there’s also the team’s GM, Peter Andersson. A former Beartown player who made it to the big leagues, and returned when that dream ran its course. Peter and his wife Kira, a lawyer, have a daughter, Maya, 15 years old, and a son Leo, 12. Leo, of course, plays, and loves, hockey. Maya plays guitar, but life still revolves around hockey, everywhere in town, in her life. Maya’s best friend who practically lives with them is Ana. And then there's another boy, another hockey player, Amat, who has a somewhat secret crush on Maya. Parties, school, friends, her life, their lives… Life, really, revolves around hockey.

They can’t even begin to imagine a life without hockey.

Why does he care about hockey? Because his life will be silent without it.

There is so much more to this story that seemingly appears solely devoted to hockey. There is devotion, single-minded devotion, like a religion, a way of life. One can find similar devotion in other areas of life, other sports, other avenues like reading, or television or video games, but those don’t lend themselves to participation with others, groups of people. An entire town.

Devotion to a cause, to a vision of the future might ultimately be a crack in the armor of a small town. What is a town but a place where people live their lives and dream their dreams? What happens when choices have to be made? What, or who, is sacrificed – and why?

Belonging, that need to feel a part of something bigger, to include those chosen few who share our thoughts and hopes and dreams. If not to be “in with the in crowd” then to find our own crowd where we are seen for whom we are.

Loyalty is tied into belonging, to being part of a tribe where we feel at home. Loyalty can be a wonderful trait, but it can also lead people to make decisions based on the wrong criteria. Sometimes making a choice between two roads leads you far, far astray.

I’ve read all of Fredrik Backman’s books – at least those that I know of. This isn’t really anything like A Man Called Ove, or My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, or Britt-Marie Was Here, or And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer - but at the same time it has all the elements of each of those that made them work so well. His ability to deliver that common ground with a character and have you rooting for them, feeling as if you know them, and ultimately to loving them.

Recommended


Pub Date: 25 April 2017


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Atria Books and to author Fredrik Backman

Beartown is a small town in Sweden. Hockey is the way of life there. The boys junior ice hockey team is going to the national semi finals. The entire town is celebrating and has their eyes on winning then going to finals. Peter is the GM of the hockey club. He is married to Kira and they have 15 year old Maya and 12 year old Luke. After winning the semi finals, 17 year old Kevin the star hockey player, has a party. His parents are out of town and lots of alcohol is consumed by the team and their guests. A violent assault occurs to a young girl at the party and the town must come to terms with the fallout. Is the hockey player above the law and should be forgiven because he plays hockey? Doesn't the young girl deserve justice for what happened to her? It is a story of family, what one does to protect their family, and courage to face something so terrible. It was an emotional read which I truly loved. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC for an honest review.

Here's a little bit of a confession: while I really enjoyed Fredrik Backman's book A Man Called Ove, and the charming curmudgeon who was its main character, I have found in recent years that there seems to be a glut of charming yet misunderstood curmudgeons doddering their way through modern fiction.

So despite people's warm feelings about Backman's next two books, I passed, because I have enough to worry about becoming a (hopefully) charming curmudgeon someday soon. However, I did pounce on his novella And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, and I fell in love with it (curmudgeon-ish character and all), and it easily found its way onto my list of the best books I read last year.

Even with full confidence in Backman's storytelling ability, I was surprised to learn his newest book, Beartown, didn't follow the same pattern of his other books, but rather focused on a small town which many think is dying out, a town literally obsessed with hockey. I wondered how this would work. But then as I read this book over the course of one late evening in the throes of insomnia, I was blown away, because this was so much more than a hockey novel. Backman pulled off a colossal feat, a literary mic drop.

Beartown is a small forest town that seems to be getting subsumed by the trees around it. One of the few highlights of Beartown is an old hockey rink which was for many years home to the only pastime enjoyed by the factory workers who lived there and the townspeople who cheered with and jeered at them.

"Sometimes the entire community feels like a philosophical experiment: If a town falls in the forest but no one hears it, does it matter at all?"

But even for a hockey-obsessed town, the excitement is becoming nearly too much to bear. Beartown's junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semifinals, and many in town think they're going to win. The team may be good, but their star player, Kevin, is exceptional, and thanks to his best friend and defender (both on the rink and off), Benji, he's even better. The outcome of the game has the potential to change many lives—the players, including a new player brought on to the team unexpectedly; the general manager, once a hometown hero who briefly dallied in the NFL; several of the club's coaches, who have differing ideas about what coaches are supposed to do; even town leaders, who see the bright horizon a win could bring.

Despite what happens in that game, one night everything changes. An incident, an accusation, cause sides to be taken, lines to be drawn, people to show their true colors, friendships to strengthen and/or wither. Suddenly Beartown isn't sure what it is or should be—should hockey and its players come first? Is that all that matters? Do the haves get, while the haves-not suffer?

Backman has written an outstanding, emotional, thought-provoking novel about so much more than a town and a game. It's a book about the responsibilities and burdens of parenthood and the ripple effects missteps in parenting can cause; it's a book about belonging, about finally feeling a part of something when you've spent so much time on the outside looking in; it's a book about the staggering power—positive and negative—of friendship; and it's a book about the toll keeping secrets can have on you.

It's funny, I was thinking I would get a Swedish Friday Night Lights but instead found so much more. Backman once again proves he is a writer to be reckoned with, and I'll let him lead me wherever he wants to go next time. No questions asked.

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

5 Stars is not enough! ... When I read " A Man Called Ove" it was uplifting and heartwarming..... this is much more of a soul searching exploration of the human condition. I thought this was going to be a "feel good" story about the coming together of a small town in search of relevancy .... afforded by a victory by the Junior boys hockey team.
Beartown is a small town on the edge of the forest and is in danger of dying and becoming irrelevant. The local factories provide fewer and fewer jobs ... the small supermarkets have been replaced by one big store.. The community hopes a victory will bring with it: establishment of a new hockey academy; perhaps a shopping mall; maybe a convention center and even better links to the freeway.
We are provided with a cast of characters ... the players, parents and "locals".... we experience their hopes, aspirations and fears.. However, a violent act occurs which effects the whole town .... the town and it's people react in quite divergent fashion. And, suddenly, the hockey game only becomes a metaphor for the life experience.. Sides are taken and the town is in turmoil. We experience the angst and dilemma of choices and actions through multiple eyes.
Backman takes us on an internal journal of the soul ... written with prose that sweeps you along. Decisions and actions occur that aren't imminently predictable. This book makes his others appear as "warm-ups" A five star is not good enough for this thought provoking novel.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Despite his incredible popularity, I haven't read any of this author's work, although I certainly ordered plenty of it. I did read bits and snippets of A man called Ove before using it in a program, and I've also recommended it to some people. So I was excited to get this galley.

This book is two parts; the first is a happy but honest discussion of people who don't always have it easy. The second is an honest and less happy examination of real-world feminist topics. Although the story flowed fairly smoothly, I would have slightly preferred a more integrated structure, but I can imagine why it's organized the way it is-- it allows the reader to get to know the town and most of the characters pretty well before bigger issues come up.

There were way more characters than I can usually manage, but they are all distinct personalities. I have no idea how the author managed it. There were only a couple I tended to trip over: two adults who were involved with the local sports team and had been coached by the same mentor, and two current players who both were the muscle and their names started with the same letter.

I was upselling this to all my coworkers today. It is probably my favorite book of the year so far. There are so many amazing things, sentences that can be interpreted so many different ways, writing that carries the reader along. I alternated between reading as fast as I could, to eat it all up, and reading as slowly as possible, to savor it.
Highly recommended, maybe even 5 stars.

A Junior hockey team going to national semi-finals
the hopes of town are on them--then a violent act creates ripples throughout the entire town.

I was immediately immersed in this book. I was so involved that I could not stop reading. you will be swept away to Beartown and become a part of this town. the descriptions of hockey are so vivid that I fell in love with hockey once again (I have not liked it since I was young).

I will always look back at this book and remember.
I think that all young men and women should read this book.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman is a novel about hockey. If you know nothing about hockey you will by the time you finish reading this book! The first half of the book lays the foundation for the second half by helping the reader understand just how important hockey can be to a small town that's down on its luck. This book follows several boys on a hockey team as well as the men who helped the boys become such strong hockey players. When one member of the elite junior team makes a horrible decision it will have ripple effects on the rest of the team, coaches, and town members. This book full of secrets will leave you pondering long after you've finished reading it. Enjoy!

As I am not a hockey fan, I was a bit disappointed to hear that Backman's latest book was about hockey. But I am so glad that I read it anyway because it's not really about the sport of hockey. I ended up loving it as much as I have loved Backman's other books. Wonderful characters, amazing writing and a plot that kept me completely engaged. Fredrik Backman is a master storyteller!

Fredrik Backman is one of my all time favorite authors!! After reading the synopsis for Beartown, my initial thoughts were that Mr. Backman was stepping out of his box a little bit and that I was dying to dive in!!

Beartown completely blewn me away!! This original novel entangled my heartstrings and captivated my attention from first to last page. This book starts out with a bang (quite literally) and the majority of this novel spans only a month's time, but I'm amazed by the amount depth that was put into the both the characters and storyline during that month. I feel that depth in general is a Backman trademark and is the reason readers connect so profoundly to his novels. Beartown was a much darker read than Backman's prior novels, but as with all his books, Beartown will leave you thinking about it's characters/plot long after you've finished. I highly recommend this powerful 5 star read to everyone--it doesn't matter what your typical reading genre is, this book is a must read!!

I loved Backman's A Man Called Ove. I really really liked My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. But when I read Backman's last full length novel -- Britt-Marie Was Here -- I wondered whether Backman was a one trick pony, the formula being to create a quirky difficult character and the people who come to love him/her because he/she has a good heart under that gruff exterior.

Well it turns out that Backman is no One Trick Pony, and he has a lot to write about besides quirky difficult characters. Beartown is nothing like Backman 's earlier novels. Beartown is a small town in Sweden obsessed with its junior hockey team. The novel focuses on an ensemble of disparate characters associated with the hockey team in different ways. Something nasty happens, and it shows the worst side of small communities and sports. The challenge with reviewing Beartown is that it's hard not to talk about what makes this book so interesting and powerful without giving away any spoilers. Suffice it to say that Beartown asks some big questions about small communities, families and friendship -- questions about the price of belonging and not belonging, the ugliness and beauty of loyalty, the lengths that parents will go to to protect their children from the herd, and many more. These questions are not explored at the expense of the characters or story. Backman's strength remains his ability to create characters, especially those who are outliers. And the end was brilliant. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

There is a small town that exists for the love of hockey and that is about all the town has to offer. The goal is to win the big game and end the season the big winners to gain recognition for the Bears of Beartown. There are hotheads and kind neighbors - jealousies and rivalries like any town. Beartown doesn't have to exist in Sweden and we recognize ourselves in the sage old coach, the new replacement, the rabid fans and the protective parents who have given their everything for the kids and love of the game. So when the unthinkable happens,as it always does, Beartown will fall to pieces and it is unsure if they and the reader will ever be able to recover the innocence of the past. This is a marked departure for Backman whose lovable curmudgeons have enchanted us in previous books. This tells an important story and will make an everlasting impression on you. Beartown gives us a glimpse of ourselves - the good, bad and the ugly side of humanity and what happens when a town has to deal with an unspeakable act against one of their own. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

"For people who have never lived where darkness and cold are the norm, where else is the exception, it is hard to understand that it is possible to find someone who has frozen to death with their jacket open, or even naked. But when you get really cold your blood-vessels contract and your heart does all it can to stop blood reaching the frozen parts of your body and then coming back to your heart cold.
Not unlike a hockey team suffering a penalty and playing at a numerical disadvantage:
prioritize resources, play defensively, defend the heart, lungs and brain. What happens when the defense finally collapses, when you get cold enough, is that your box play falls apart, your goalie does something stupid, your backs stop communicating with each other, and the body parts that were previously shut off from circulation are suddenly switched back on again. And then, when warm blood from your heart flows back to your frozen feet and hands, you experience an intense rush of heat. That's why you suddenly imagine that you're overheating and start to take your clothes off.
Then the chilled blood goes back to your heart and it's all over. Every couple of years or so, someone in Beartown goes home drunk after a party and takes a shortcut across the ice, or gets lost in the forest, or sits down to rest for a moment, and is found lifeless in a snowdrift the following morning".

Hockey is more than just a game in the 'Beartown'....it's the focus of the community's small town universe. Everyone is affected.....The game itself requires sacrifice -- long training sessions for the kids - Dedication from coaches, ( old school and new school thoughts of best way to train young kids) , wives, children, and friends of the team are aware they live in HOCKEY TOWN.
-- The General manager works long hours --- even when he is home.
Hockey distraction pulls him away from the family.
The President of the club pulls weight and adds pressure.
The Board of directors and sponsors try to pull power ranks in hiring and firing.
Fanatical parents can get nasty, and competitive with other parents.
Teachers have a hard time demanding respect in their classroom from their students who are star athletes.
Educators are influenced by wealthy community members.
Store and bar owners contribute to the town at large.
Friends and family in the community are aware of the type of town they live in. It's very clear! Hockey is a family member in and of itself!!
There are personal & team struggles - on and off the ice:
Parties - alcohol- drugs- sex - rape - lies - cool kids - fat kids- lonely kids - rich and poor kids - kids trying to fit in - love - loss - lies - betrayal - secrets - death - financial strains- forgiveness, marriage and family issues - loneliness- friendships - jealousy - anger - loyalty - admiration- inspiring relationships- and not so inspiring.

There is the challenge of the economy of the town itself and the expectation- hopes and dreams that a junior hockey team might have to boast the towns economy.
Factory workers who have lost jobs may get re-hired. Tourism may increase. Beartown would be held in higher regard.

......For a player like Benji -- whose father committed suicide when he was little - hockey gave him a context, a structure, rules, and it rewarded him with the best sides of himself: his boundless heart and unshakeable loyalty. It provided a focus for his energy, channeling it into something constructive. All through his childhood he would sleep with his hockey stick beside him.

......Having buried a father and son within a year period, being the General Manager of the junior Hockey team gave Peter Andersson the feeling of keeping something alive. His wife Kira, a lawyer, who commuted to work just outside of Beartown, thought less of the over zealous hockey obsessive hockey community. She loved her husband but never really understood why the game made grown men a bag of nerves. Their daughter Maya, 15 years old, enjoyed playing her guitar. We will embrace her pain and feel her anger as her story develops. Her best friend Ana spent the night at her house almost every night. This friendship puzzled me for awhile as to why she never slept at her own house - but made sense as the story continued.
Leo, 12 years old, the son of the Andersson family shares his dad's passion for Hockey like most of the town. Easy going kid.

.......Star hockey player Kevin Erdahl, good grades, from a prominent family, had guys scrambling for best friend position- ( which was usually Benji), and girls throwing themselves at him. The only people that weren't 'pudding-at-his-feet' were his parents. Kevin's parents were the wealthy family in town - they financially sponsored the hockey team - high achievers- result oriented- but emotionally distant. Kevin may have had the most natural talent on the team - but he had other handicaps.

David and Sune - both hockey coaches argued about whether a 17-year-old could be ready to play in the A-team. Sune-- the older coach lived by the traditional team motto for years...since the beginning of the club: ....."Culture, Values, Community". The worn old banner hung in the locker room.
David, the younger coach knew he could never really properly explain, that the true drive for a star player like Kevin had nothing to do with values - culture or community....but......
"his absolute desire to win. Not that he hates losing, but that he can't even begin to conceive of trying to accept not winning. He's merciless. You can't teach that."

David believed "hockey has always been that the world outside the rink mustn't
encroach upon the world inside it. They need to be separate universes. Outside, real life is complicated and frightening and hard, but inside the rink it is straightforward and comprehensible. If David hadn't kept the world so clearly divided, these guys, with all the shit they've had to deal with out in the real world, would've been broken even as little kids. But the rink was a refuge. Their one happy place".

Amat, the youngest player - the fastest, who played with heart, stepped up a level, lived with his single mother. He's the guy who would naturally gather up pucks and cones after practice. Not because anyone told him to because it gave him a chance to avoid others. When it came to talking about girls, parties, or boasting about snorts-of-coke or blowjobs, Amat was reluctant to join in the laughter..... yet that overwhelming feeling of being allowed to belong was something he wanted too. It gave him a warm feeling to 'belong' was a strong attraction.

As you can see - many themes get covered. Each of the characters are so well developed- I feel like I know them - as people. I know this town. The strengths - weakness - the sadness - the sport!

For many years my next door neighbor played for The San Jose Sharks.
His wife and and 5 kids too. Ice Hockey is a popular sport in San Jose because of the Sharks. Our younger daughter was a huge fan -knowing every team members name - and many team members. - so from the basic beauty of the sport - including the tunnel vision quest for competitive excellence, scores, statistics, and victories....I enjoyed the subject- vehicle - in which Fredrik Backman told this story.

I felt that Backman brought a remarkable voice to the world of 'training-dedication'. . be it Hockey, dance, music, or martial arts.......competitor or simply an enthusiast. This book is compulsively intimate providing different perspectives - different stories illuminating the benefits of any skill training - the challenges- for all those who are involved.... "Bear Town" in this case!

THE BEST PART: Deeply EMOTIONALLY FELT!!! 'DEEPLY'!!! You can read a thousand reviews- NONE OF THEM WILL BE SPOILERS- ( enjoy them all), because this novel is an 'experience-on-steroids'.

MUST BE EXPERIENCED yourself! -- gorgeous insightful prose!!

Thank You Netgalley, Atria Books, and Fredrik Backman

Welcome to Beartown! It’s a small town where hockey is everything. The community bans together in the hopes of winning until an incident occurs one evening involving the team’s star player. Fredrik Backman weaves a beautiful story about the life of a small town that will pull you in and will make you feel like part of the town. Beartown is a powerful novel about human emotion. A must read for everyone!

Every time I try to write my review for this incredible book, I write four plus pages; that's unacceptable. Backman writes about us, people, parents, kids, in a struggling town anywhere in the world. The location doesn't matter really. Everyone is trying to live everyday as best as they can, provide for their families maybe a little better than they had it during their childhood. You'll recognize yourself and your neighbors. The town's identity is its sport, in this case hockey, but it could be any sport. It encompasses everyone's life. Some kids are better than others, all are taught that the TEAM comes before anything or anyone. The team includes kids from all over town, some privileged, some poor, mixed ethnicities, all encompassing.
However, an incident occurs that will test everyone's loyalties. People will take sides. The characters are so complex, so deep, so incredible. There are at least ten quotes I could place here. How could Fredrik Backman be so knowledgeable about people, especially teenagers.
The primary refrain throughout is, "we can't protect our children." That is very true, we think we can, but we can't. All we can do is teach them right from wrong. They grow up and we can't be with them all the time, they'll have to make their own decisions. So profound for our world right now. Please read this book, it will matter, to all of us. It's a wonder of a book.

5 Resounding Stars!
Fredrik Backman: You’ve left me drained, almost completely bereft of words. This is a novel, unlike any of your others, yet it’s so full of heart and emotion that we the readers know emphatically that it is yours. And after the last words have sunk into my soul, I can emphatically say, thank you! This one is to be treasured.

Now, what can I possibly say about this story, without giving it away?

Beartown is a town that eat, sleeps and goes to bed thinking about one thing: Hockey. Hockey is what makes this town tick. Vibrate. Come Alive. Beartown, and its residents wouldn’t be a community without it. Every person, every family pins their hearts on the Junior Boy’s Hockey team and its inhabitants have nothing left. It’s a huge cross for these kids to bear (no pun intended) and sometimes, well, something or someone has to break. Sadly, strength and resilience give way to anger and pain, leaving no stone unturned, yet that little bear inside those who've been dealt the most blows refuses to give up.

Whether or not you like Hockey, I can almost assure you that it will grow on you after reading this. And if you know someone who plays? Well, you will understand the drive and the desire better than a lot of us. But the raw human emotion that is dripping from each and every page of this novel? You will all feel that. Fredrik Backman evokes it from each and every reader and here, he does so in a way that he has never done before. And I am truly honored and extremely grateful to have experienced it.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and the amazing Fredrik Backman for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. It has been a privilege.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 2/16/17.

**Will be published on Amazon on 4/25/17.

A much more disturbing and intense read than A Man Called Ove, this novel deals with the inhabitants of a small town where a winning hockey team means much more than anything, including the truth.

Another great book from Bachman! Totally different from his past books, a look at teen lives, sports and declining towns and the loyalties we have to our friends, families, and towns. A wonderful book