Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite author. Since reading A Man Called Ove I have read everything he has written. He has a way seeing life that is real and reveals itself in his stories. When I got chance to read Beartown I was a little concerned when I saw that hockey was at the center of the story. But it was as much about the people in the small town of Beartown. Beartown was the home of the junior hockey team who had a chance to win the national championship and save the town.

3.5 Stars

I read Backmans, A Man Called Ove, and loved it, so I was super excited to pick this one up. Unfortunately, it was a slow start for me and it wasn’t until the last third of the book that I really started to be pulled into the story. Douchebag athletes make my skin crawl, as well as those that follow along with them.

“There are few words that are harder to explain than "loyalty." It's always regarded as a positive characteristic, because a lot of people would say that many of the best things people do for each other occur precisely because of loyalty. The only problem is that many of the very worst things we do to each other occur because of the same thing.”

In Beartown, loyalty is all that matters. Loyalty to the town, to the club, and the boys hockey team. If you don’t support them, if you question them, if you challenge them, you are an outcast. Sometimes, being the outcast may be just the push they all need, maybe it isn’t always about being right or wrong, maybe loyalty isn’t as absolute as we think it is.

“She’s fifteen, above the age of consent, and he’s seventeen, but he’s still “the boy” in every conversation. She’s “the young woman”.

Although the beginning was rather slow, Backman knew exactly what he was doing and knew that we needed to get to know these people, this community, show us their secrets and their strengths, he needed to show us what was at their core.

Where to start? When you absolutely LOVE a book, it is hard to know how to write a review without sounding 'gushy'. I hate gushy.

Deep in a forest in Sweden lies a small town called "Beartown". Beartown is a hockey town, and this book is about hockey. But it's not really. It is about society, it is about life, parenthood, loyalty, bravery, and so very much more. It is about a scandal, and how the people of Beartown are forced to take sides...

Beartown is a town that is in economic decline. Pretty much all it has left is its hockey club. The hope is that if the town's team wins the final, money and prosperity might return to the town as a result.

It is hard to pinpoint a protagonist in this novel. All the characters shine brightly, and you will come to care for them all.

"It doesn't take a lot to be able to let go of your child. It takes everything."

The Andersson family: Peter, his wife, Kira, their fifteen year old daughter Maya, and their twelve year-old son, Leo. Peter, a former professional hockey player, is the General Manager of the Beartown Hockey Club. Kira is a talented lawyer, Maya loves her guitar, and Leo his games. Oh, and then there is Ana, Maya's best friend, who practically lives at the Andersson's.

The Erdahl family: Seventeen year-old Kevin is the town's star hockey player. He was born with the talent to excel at his sport. He is the only child of affluent parents who are not demonstrative in their affections. His father is one of the primary financial backers of the team.

"Kevin is too good. Kevin is the jewel, Benji the insurance policy."

Benjamin (Benji), is Kevin's best friend. He has been since they were both tiny. A fighter on the ice, Benji always has Kevin's back. Kevin wouldn't be half the player he is without Benji's support, both on and off the ice.

Fatima, works as a cleaner at the hockey rink. An immigrant, and the mother of fifteen year-old Amat, a small boy in stature, but a big man in moral fibre. He loves hockey and is one of the fastest skaters in Beartown. The only thing he loves more than skating, is Maya Andersson.

"The most painful fall for anyone is tumbling down through a hierarchy."

Sune, the A-team coach of the Beartown Hockey Club. He has been around as long as anyone can remember. He is patriarch of the hockey club and mentor to both Peter and David.

David, the hockey coach. The players love him and have done so since they were seven years old. He is who they strive to win for.

Ramona, the chain-smoking owner of the town's only tavern. Ramona is a childless widow.

"People say she's gone mad, because that's what people who know nothing about loneliness call it."

This book did exactly what literary fiction should do. It makes you think. About others in your life - about yourself. It makes you chuckle, it makes you weep. This is a book about parents and children, friendships, loyalty and betrayal, loss and loneliness, bravery and cowardice, vengeance and justice, the value of social acceptance.

"Another morning comes. It always does. Time always moves at the same rate, only feelings have different speeds. Each day can mark a whole lifetime or a single heartbeat, depending on who you spend it with."

In my opinion, if you spend your time reading Beartown, it is time well spent. Highly recommended!

I am a huge fan of Fredrik Backman. He writes with intense emotion, filling his characters with depth and realism. In Beartown, he takes it to the next level as he explores what can happen when too many hopes on pinned on too few. In case, it's the junior ice hockey team burdened with bringing life back to a small town. The circumstances and consequences are played out with intensity. As with his other novel, Backman brings fictional characters to life.

I have no idea why it took me so long to get into this book, but once I finally settled into it, I couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t what I expected, but I loved it anyway. At first, the idea that it was going to be all about hockey seemed unappealing, but the tension woven throughout leading up to and following the “incident” really kept things moving. I continue to enjoy Backman’s writing and can’t wait to see what he publishes next.

Backman takes on the fraught topic of sexual assault and how it can splinter a town. When the star hockey player in a small town is accused of raping a classmate, the town quickly begins to pick sides and shatter relationships. Compelling and fraught.

Based on the previous works of Fredrik Backman that I've read, I've come to think of him as one of the freshest, somber voices in literature that we've seen in a long time. That opinion hasn't changed much, but with Beartown, one of the newest to be translated and published in the U.S., he begins to look a bit formulaic as well.

<em>Beartown</em> tells the story of a small, rural town out in the woods and away from the rush and hustle of civilization. Beartown is in northern Sweden, but as is typical with Backman it's really an 'anytown'.

Hockey is the town sport - more than a sport, really, it's a way of life where the activity teaches the boys camaraderie and the competitive spirit and where those who are now older look at the sport and are reminded of their younger days. Beartown is also the second-best. A championship in hockey has been a dream but the residents are constantly reminded that they are second best - not up to the fast, aggressive, and so-much-better city residents. But once in a while a natural talent comes along and Beartown has that now and their dreams of a hockey championship are renewed.

But with the winnings and the expectations of the team moving onward, a voice rises up that could bring the expected championship to a sudden halt. A teenage girl calls out against one of the boys for raping her at a celebration party. In a town that pins all its hopes on a hockey championship, one girl's trauma is a source of irritation for many.

What I like about Backman is that he has his finger on the pulse of small towns. It doesn't seem to matter - if someone was born and raised and lived all their life in a small town in Sweden or a small town in Minnesota, the attachment to an activity stays in the community - especially if the residents don't 'get out.'

But here the comparison ends. Instead of a typical small town, we get the stereotypical assortment of characters. Just the right mix to create the stereotypical collection of grumps and know-it-alls and teens discovering their sexual identity. What you see on the surface pretty much is who they are. Unlike some of Backman's other books, where we get a little deeper into the story and discover the layers of a character, here the town itself is the character but there aren't many layers to it.

I will also admit that I was uncomfortable with the rape sequence in the book, and more so with the accusations against the girl from the community. I recognize that this is often the treatment victims receive, but that doesn't mean I need to be okay with it. Because I was uncomfortable, it made it more difficult for me to stay in and 'enjoy' the story.

Because it's Backman, we know he's going to leave us with a ray of hope, and that's pretty much all I could hang onto as I went further in.

I'll read the other volumes in this series because I generally like Backman, but I hope he gets out of the comfort zone of stock characters here.

Looking for a good book? <em>Beartown</em> by Fredrik Backman takes a look at small town pride and jealousy and hatred and gets it close to 'right' but doesn't go out of the way to create new or real characters for this one.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Tremendous and heartfelt in its telling, Beartown could be any town. Reminiscent of Friday Night Lights, a sports crazed town with not much else going for it, finds itself and its residents forever changed by one night.

Unfortunately, my tablet died and took all of my notes on this novel with it. I do, however, remember this one as being disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high? My least favorite book by this author to date.

NOTE: I didn't intend to download this from NetGalley since I had already read the book. My finger hit the download button by mistake!

Although the events before, during and after an ice hockey match are the bones that the story is pinned on – the focus is NOT ice hockey. For which I was truly thankful because I know nothing about the game – other than it looks very dangerous! No, the book’s focus is on the individual characters that are directly involved, and also on the emotions of the township as a whole – this quote sums it up:

“…Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard, it makes demands. Hate is simple. So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third is that we dehumanize our enemy…”

There is a diverse cast of characters and their different viewpoints are each recorded meticulously. Being a small isolated town in a remote area of Sweden the community of Beartown is tightly knit – they all know each other, and pull together to survive. The upcoming ice hockey match is currently the sole focus of the town, with the expected win to potentially turn the town fortunes around.

So, summed up, the hopes of the whole town all ride on the shoulder of one young star player. So when after a pre-match party he is accused of rape the focus of Beartown turns onto his alleged victim; she now becomes the only thing standing between Beartown finally declining and it’s rebirth as a society. You can imagine that sympathy is not a common thought towards her. The resulting furore becomes a catalyst for a very traumatic time for the community. With accusations and counter accusations flying; lies, innuendo and rumours being taken as fact – the citizens of Beartown almost immediately start to show their true colours and the lines are drawn. But what is more important – an ice hockey match or a human being? Friends become enemies, and enemies team up in a common cause. The many different actions taken are slowly woven together as each action causes a reaction that ripple-effects across the town and adds to the progress of the story. I became utterly engrossed as the story gradually unfolded.

Beartown was an emotional rollercoaster for me as my reactions to the events and conversations triggered my mood to swing from happy to angry to upset and back to happy again – sometimes in the same chapter! Often, the actions of the characters surprised me in how they reacted, especially when it was different to how I thought they should react. Beartown tackles some heavy issues - peer pressure, homophobia, rape culture and hero worship of sportsmen and women. All very current themes faced daily by different societies around the world.

An edge of the seat story – and, as I have said, an emotional rollercoaster that left me panting in exhaustion at the end.

Beartown is a town obsessed with hockey and it looks like their junior team just may be headed to the national finals. But when the star player rapes a classmate, it leaves both the town and the team bitterly divided.

In Beartown, author Fredrik Backman looks at the dark side of hockey and the culture of obsession it spawns: obsessed parents who scream at the referees, the other players, even their own kids, and brawl in the stands; obsessed fans who treat players like gods and see themselves as the guardians and protecters of the legends they, themselves, have created; the players, especially the young, who lose perspective under the pressure and praise; and how any behaviour by these young ‘gods’ can be excused no matter how heinous as long as they can win. And he looks at how the victims of sexual assault by these ‘gods’ are treated – the victim blaming and shaming and how it can destroy their families.

Beartown is a definite departure from his earlier books, much darker, certainly much less charming than A Man Called Ove. The style of the prose remains the same, however, short positive sentences and paragraphs that move the story along at a brisk pace. It seems like this shouldn’t work with such an emotional and dark subject but, if anything, the contrast between style and subject seems to heighten the impact of the story. This is a compelling tale but not an easy one and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

This was a very different book for Backman. I didn’t recognize the writing and would not have guessed him to be the author, if I hadn’t known. It really had a different feel from his other stories. Yet, I really enjoyed it. In fact, I may have enjoyed it even more.

There are a lot of characters to get to know in the beginning of the book. Fortunately, you get to know them well throughout the story.

The story starts out:

“Late one evening, toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there.”

Then, you go back to how it all began and try to figure out who would have shot someone else and why. There are a lot of complicated relationships. There are also secrets, frustrations, hidden loves, ignored children, political & personal conflicts, and various other real life situations. There are so many possible reasons for the assault in the forest that you are left wondering who is capable of it. As you read, you will second guess what you think of people in light of new information.

However, the murder doesn’t take center stage in the story. It is just in the back of your mind while you get to know all these characters. They are all flawed and come from varying backgrounds and living situations. They have good qualities along with their not so good qualities, which makes them all feel real.

Overall, I found this to be a great read. There are definitely triggers in the book for those that are sensitive to physical assault, sexual assault, or gang mentality. These events were not just thrown in for effect. They fit into the story well and help to give you a feel for the life these characters lead. They show the weaknesses as well as the growth of many characters and gives you a feel for the environment in which the story takes place.

I hope Backman writes more stories like this.

My favorite quotes:

"Never again do you find friends like the one's you have when you are fifteen years old.”

"When I was little, my dad used to hit me if I spilled my milk, Leo. It didn't teach me not to spill things. It just made me afraid of milk. Remember that."

Another great piece of work from this author. Each book gets better and better. I can't wait for others to read this.

Fredrik Backman is proving that he can write just about anything very well. This is a completely different book from A Man Called Ove and some of his others, but so well-done. This is also not the type of book I would normally like. I do not enjoy "Sports above all else" stories. You know, the type where an entire town is willing to overlook bad character to celebrate someone's athletic abilities? Not. my. thing. So I wasn't sure how I would like this one a few chapters in, because it definitely starts out as that type of book.

But...Wow. Fredrik Backman has won me over. It's a bit heavier than Ove (that's right...heavier than the book about a man's quest to commit suicide) and it deals with a lot of issues that are incredibly relevant in today's social climate. I had to take some time to digest it, but now I'm ready to jump on a plane and head to Beartown. I may or may not watch the hockey game.

Atria Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Beartown. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Beartown is a tiny community that lives and breathes hockey, as it has for generations. When the star of the team does something unimaginable, will the town stand behind the young man that holds their hopes and dreams despite the accusations of wrongdoing?

The magic that author Fredrik Backman had in A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here is largely absent in this book. The beginning is so slow that I almost gave up on reading the entirety of the novel. Beartown seems off balance, with its choppy writing style and short paragraphs. The story behind the hockey is compelling, but is mainly subservient to the aforementioned subject. The conclusion is vague and gives the illusion of an ending despite few clear answers. For such a serious topic of discussion, the author does not spend enough time on issue that tears the town into two camps. Readers who have enjoyed author Fredrik Backman's other works may be taken aback with the serious nature of Beartown, but I would recommend it to others regardless of that fact.

This book wrecked me. It kept me up until three in the morning, and though I dreaded picking it up again the next day I did – thank God I started this on a Saturday – and I finished it a couple of hours later.

At first I thought it was going to be a beautifully written, heartbreaking exploration of all the things a maybe-championship hockey team can to for, and to, a tiny town, and to its people, especially the very young players. And that would have been enough, really. It would have been plenty. But there is a line right at the beginning of the book foretelling a tragedy: before the book is over two of the characters will go into the forest, and one will have a gun, and the other will be a target. So I knew there was more to it than "just" a game. What might otherwise be small things became monumental; a boy is left standing in a hallway, forgotten for the moment by his best, his only friend – nothing to make note of for an outsider, but life-changing for the boy. And I wondered then and at other points of the first part of the book: is this the person who will pull the trigger? Is this why there will be a shot fired?

What I didn't realize – and I'm unhappy about that – is that a ways in the book takes a sharp turn. The Goodreads book description talks about a girl being traumatized, and I don't think it's too strong to say that's unfair to some readers. I suppose more detail gives away more of the plotline than might be desired, so stop reading now if you don't want any spoilers whatsoever, because I'm not putting this in spoiler tags –I think it's important that at least some people know this going in: the trauma is rape. A teenage girl is raped. I was rocked by the scene (not explicit, but with enough detail to haunt me), and I can only imagine what it might do to someone who was even more sensitive. So: trigger warnings. Big ones. Flags flying and sirens wailing.

It's horrible. It's hard.

And that's kind of the point.

Up to that turning point, I was enjoying the author's effortless-seeming brilliant thumbnail descriptions of characters. "…Her dad barely awake and vaguely surprised, as if every morning he wakes up somewhere he’s never been before, and her mom with the body language of a remote-controlled lawn mower whose obstacle-sensor has broken", and so on. I laughed out loud several times.

And, to my surprise, I laughed out loud toward the end of the book, too – and cried, and ached, and wanted to cheer … and ached. Some of these characters became incredibly dear to me; I was surprised by the depth and fierceness of my affection for Peter and Kira (Kia), Ana and Mia and Leo, most of the people of Beartown and even a few in Hed. And I was taken aback by the depth of my loathing for one man – not who you'd think, given that horrible pivotal event, but a team father whose death, whose slow and painful and meaningful death I longed for. And I also hated most of the people of Beartown and even a few in Hed. And I understood where a lot of the pain came from, in this book and, perhaps, in reality, and the helplessness that brought was impossible. <spoiler>"Right now, [he] has only hurt me. But if I talk, I’ll be letting him hurt everyone I love as well. I can’t handle that."</spoiler> "The easiest way to unite a group isn’t through love, because love is hard. It makes demands. Hate is simple." That's too relevant right now.

<I>"Do you know how to save someone from Hed if they’re drowning?" Benji shook his head. David grinned. "Good."</i>

There was a moment with Ana and the dogs that brought back a lot of bittersweet memories. I was going to save the quote, but it resulted in ugly crying, and I'd rather not keep that.

And there was another moment when I remembered that line about the gunshot, and thought "crap, I was right" – but I wasn't. I never saw that moment coming, not the way it happened.

Another surprise in this book was that it almost made me want to go watch hockey. It suddenly dredged up a memory from my childhood, when I watched part of a game with my big brother and he explained things like what a hat trick was. "The sounds." "The sounds?" "That’s the thing about hockey…"

This book is hard to read – and it's impossible to stop. It's about a tiny town losing jobs and losing hope. It's about hockey. It's about children, and parents, and marriage. It's about love, and hate, and deep pain and transcendent joy. It will wring you out, and lift you up.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

I LOVED this book! I have had it for a while. I would like to thank the publisher & Netgalley for reaching out to me and providing me a copy of this book. It has in NO WAY influenced my thoughts or opinions. 
I decided to take this on vacation to break my reading slump. I read this whole book on the drive home. To be fair, we had to drive 10 hours. I love all his other books, besides Britt-Marie was here. I could not finish that one. Anyways, this is pretty different for his normal type of book. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing at all. I'm going to try and write this without ANY spoilers. 

I'm not a huge hockey fan. I went to my first game last year and I had fun. Not a big fan though. So, when I started reading and realized this book was about a town and their obsession with hockey, I was skeptical. I completely changed my mind about a chapter or two in. This book is so much more. I love that Backman did so many POV's in this book. You can see how different characters feel and why they make the choices they do. It's quite lovely. 

This town is small and it's diminishing. They feel that their last hope to keep it alive is to make sure their hockey team goes all the way. It will bring the town back "on the board" so to speak. No pressure on these kids, right?! Wrong. Everything is hanging on this one game and they are not shy about letting the kids know how important it is. They will do anything to win. They let these boys get away with anything, so they can win. Morals and Rules go out the window because there's no way they can be punished. The pressure starts to get to some and they don't handle it well. Then one night, one decision changes everything. You have these dominoes that start to fall and they hit every person in the town. 

This book does start off a bit slow but I'm used to his style. Trust me, keep at it because it will be absolutely worth it. This book tackles some very deep issues and it will make you feel a lot of emotions. Joy, sadness, anger and make you question everything, even humanity as a whole. It may seem like fiction but this book is very real. 

I love this book just as much as, A Man Called Ove. I recommend that one to everyone and I will with this one too. This book moves you and makes you think. I loved it and I'm sure this review is awful because I'm still mind-blown. I'm definitely a huge Backman fan and can't wait for the next book!

I was a little slower to fall in love with Beartown than most of Backman's other novels, but I did still come to love this one as well. I found it a tad bit predictable, but not in a way that ruined anything. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Back in February I saw Beartown available for request on Netgalley. I didn't requested it. I mean... hockey? I love Backman, I've read all his other books... but hockey? 2 or 3 weeks later I received a lovely email by ... telling me "thank you for supporting Fredrick since the beginning by requesting Ove." Yep, A man called ove was one of my very first netgalley titles that I got approved to. The email said that Beartown would be approved for me, so I could just download it directly. Ok, so if I don't have to ask for it... let's try it! This trying it took me 6 months. I just couldn't get into the story. After some weeks of trying I basically gave up. I kept the book on hold for months till I received the german advanced readers copy of the same book. The german edition followed the same destiny as the english one, I forgot about it for some months. Then a customer came by, reading the english edition, that meanwhile has been published and all. She loved the book. I trust her taste so I got quite upset. Why didn't I get it? I promised myself to give it another try, this time, with the german edition. 6Months later i finally finished the book in a 2 days time. It really made a huge difference, the language. I don't know what my problem with the english was this time, but I not gonna rate the book based on the language. The story is good, backman took a little too much time of making the reader understand why hockey was so important, instead of getting the scandal going. I like the title change, as it indicates more of the story. In german the titlechange happened even before the book is published, and I approve of it. Beartown might not attract too many people, the scandal might.

While it sometimes reminded me of Stephen Kings "the Dome" with the way of these people living in their buble of that small town, it wasn't as good, I'm afraid. Him repeateing sentences over and over again, just wasn't for me. I'm glad he took on the topic of the scandal, but feel as if he rushed through it and didn't gave it too much dept. The ending felt rushed too. Nontherless, in the end, I enjoyed reading it. I was drawn into it and wouldn't stop. I mean, in the end I did finish it in 2 days.

The official review will be put online with the german publication date in german on my blog and social media.