Fredrik Backman is popular because of "A Man Called Ove," a novel about a curmudgeon man and life lessons. He has written some other novels along the same vein, but now, with "Beartown," Backman is trying to stretch his legs a little. Some parts of this works but other parts do not.

The story revolves around Beartown and the local U-18 hockey team. Beartown is obsessed with it's team, but when the star player is accused of a devious crime against a female classmate, the town splits between those who believe him because he is going to put the team on the map vs those who believe the female. It really harks to the Brock Turner story, and Backman does a good job of making the victim into the criminal, which rings true in crimes of men against women.

I liked Beartown itself, that Backman was able to bring the spirit of the entire town into the story, like it is another character. Several authors do this, where the setting is just as much of a character as the characters, but Beartown is unique in it's isolation. This reminded me of the community of the small town in the old TV series "Northern Exposure," where people live by a certain set of rules, and there is a great deal of quirkiness in the town.

The thing that made this drag so much, and most likely turn off many readers, especially ones that came to this novel looking for something like "A Man Called Ove" is the hockey. The description of the hockey and the things surround the game is too long and pretty boring. I struggled getting through the first half of this book because he is setting the scene on and off the ice, but it just takes so long and I struggled so hard that it took me forever to finish this book.

Overall this is a departure from Backman's previous works, and even though there are so good parts and interesting social commentary, the story drags most of the time, especially through the first half.

Okay. What did I just read? By 25% I was wondering if there was a plot at all; a tragedy, an event; something that would need solving in this story. But 35% I didn't care anymore.

I don't know what to say about this book. That I loved it wouldn't make justice to the things this book made me feel. That is just perfect and perfectly written don't really express how perfect and wonderful and EVERYTHING this story is.

I picked this book because I liked A Man Called Ove (which has been made into a movie), but Beartown... Jesus! I don't remember reading anything like it in a while.

How many characters are in this story? A lot. And while I couldn't put up with Paula Hawkins' Into the Water because of its 10 point of views, Beartown left me wanting to know more about its people, more voices, more characters...

It took me a while to finish it because I didn't want it to really end. It put me in some sort of 'right' mood everytime I read a little bit. As if the universe suddenly made sense.

I have liked many books because of the plot, the twist, the topic... but I loved this one because the way it is written. I even went to YouTube to look at hockey games to see on the screen what this book described and was making me feel. I must say, I will never watch or think of hockey the same way again.

The actual plot, the actual issue addressed here, I have read before. However, the way it is approached gave it a new meaning, a whole new perspective to me.

The book is complete. From beginning to end. I have never felt so satisfied reading a book lately.

In true Frederik Backman fashion, he has a way of making you fall in love with a book and it's characters even though you think that you might not love it.

Beartown is a small town that is slowly dying, except if it's hockey team can win the Juniors final and help the town change courses. But then the unthinkable happens that turns neighbor against neighbor and makes everybody question what is right and wrong and who they should believe.

While this book definitely centers around hockey it really is about so much more than that. It's about looking at your moral compass and making decisions that are right even if nobody else believes in it. This was definitely a lot darker than some of Backman's other books but I still really enjoyed it, but maybe not as much as Ove and Grandmother.

Hey guess what? If you haven't picked up a book by Fredrick Backman YOU MUST DO IT! He writes the most heart-wrenching, soul-crushing, hard hitting books. He writes people to life and this book is no exception. When I was reading this I honestly was thinking " Oh wow.... this is just about hockey.... I live in Canada this is literally all over the place and I don't really care about it. Wait. WAIT WHAT THE HECK? THE HECK?" This book made me tear up in some spots and probably would have torn my heart in two if I didn't pace myself. I love Fredrick Backman and this novel has honestly just been a, I don't want to say wonderful because it is about rape but it was definitely very much needed and it was just written wonderfully. Bravo

What a remarkable book and so timely! The story touches upon a small town down on its luck, whose hope for redemption lies in its junior ice hockey team emerging victorious in a national semi-finals tournament. One of the team's key players commits a violent act and the repercussions that ensue from it prevents you from putting the book down until you are finished.
The total commitment to the sport serves as a backdrop to the morality and lack of it in the book. It serves a powerful reminder of what's truly right or wrong.
Bachman is brilliant at weaving a story that combines suspense alongside the big questions in life.

I almost gave up on Fredrik Backman after reading Britt-Marie Was Here. I'm glad I didn't. Beartown also started out super slow, but it transformed into a beautiful, powerful read about a town where the only thing that matters is winning. It's heartbreaking and poignant and truly a must read.

Once this got going, it had me hook, line and sinker. He grabs ahold of you and doesn't let go. Another A+++ for Backman!!!!

This is a tough one.

If you are familiar with Backman, the early experience will feel as if entering a new territory for the author but also one that fits comfortably in the same world(s) he has created. The advance reviews hinted at dark turns in the narrative – again, not new to this author, but facing those choices directly rather than glancingly and dwelling with those developments in uncomfortable ways – well, this title definitely doesn’t fall into the Swedish ‘gentle read’ category. Trust me.

It seems a very long time is spent on establishing an almost overcrowded cast. That seems strange to note, as one of the points is about the dynamics of a small town, but there were a lot of people to track from the get-go, and then more and more were added. The style of spending a few paragraphs or pages with one character and then moving to another and then another or possibly bouncing back can sometimes read as wheel-spinning or purposeful manipulation of the reader. Now, before you unabashed fans come for me, allow me to say that I see how all this is in service to this specific story, and it does knit together for a purpose. If we are given insight into all the characters, then we have windows into how each (and every) thinks and why s/he acts as s/he does. More on that in a moment.

I wrestled with the pacing and at times wondered if it were a matter of editing, but I don’t think that’s the case. It seems important to Backman to let the story unfold in almost a string of circles (confession: I almost tried to make the comparison to patterns in skating, but even I recognize how try-hard that would be) and what seems to be repetitive is intended to give us near-360 perspective on events. I understand, and I’m inclined to think this is something I may appreciate more with distance, but I’m not completely sold.

What gives me most pause is some of the handling of the themes, including the epilogue. On one hand, this is a brave story to tell. There is no shortage of towns (or franchises, or academic institutions) whose investment in sport – no matter how noble the reason – excuses morally reprehensible behavior. Yes, we are offered many perspectives, but the balance of excuse didn’t quite seem as it should be. More than one character or group seemed to be let off too lightly for responsibility for culture, for behavior (including psychological ramifications), or for lack of intervention. There is also the issue of wishful-thinking time-jumps to ‘and they went on to live a happy life’ that could be construed to lessen repercussions, and though I absolutely applaud the discussion potential, I can’t help but be troubled.

All of that, and yet still I dither between a rating of 3 or 4 stars. Did I “really like” it? Somehow this doesn’t seem the right language for my experience. Perhaps with all my exasperations or niggling doubts, if I still feel it worth this much thought, obviously the author has achieved a strong result…

I absolutely loved the book A MAN CALLED OVE, so I was thrilled to receive Backman’s latest book, Beartown, through Net Galley.

This was an incredible story of a small town that is centered on its hockey team, the inhabitants, and the repercussions of the actions of one night. It’s memorable and somewhat haunting. But what amazes me about Backman’s books is that they are SO perceptive of human nature. He writes so eloquently, yet simply, of human feelings and actions. While he is the consummate writer, he is truly an observer of human nature as well.

So glad that I received this to review – thank you! Highly recommended!

Please note: some may find the act of violence in this book (and subsequent effects) disturbing/unsettling.

I've never read Backman before and I don't know why.

What a fantastic book. At first I kept thinking, "hockey, blah blah blah" (even though it was well-written) but I understand completely why Backman needed to do that, to build up hockey so much. When The Big Thing (not to demean it; to avoid spoilers) happens, everything that happens after makes perfect sense given the setup. Backman is masterful at teasing out the story. You know things are coming, you just don't know what exactly or by/with whom. That is a real gift.

Can't recommend this one enough and I will be reading more Fredrik Backman for sure.

Backman really knows how to write people, not just stories. In each of his books he gives us characters we FEEL something for, and Beartown is no exception. There's no shortage here of emotions or perspectives- it's not your typical 1-2 protagonist novel. I found myself deeply involved in the lives and feelings of both the kids and adults of Beartown. No character was too small for Backman to develop.

It's a story that could be told of almost any small town and their beloved sports team, but it's so much more than that. It's about politics, culture, beliefs, values, humanity, pain, grief, and love. Backman didn't shy away from the tough stuff with this one- he brought his readers along for the ride with an impressive depth.

Once again Fredrik Backman delivers a gut punch of a novel about the core values that direct and guide decisions people make in their lives. In one night, Beartown becomes a divided town--a town forced to acknowledge the rape of a young woman, the role hockey and public opinion play in this event, and the power of long-held beliefs. Many of Backman's characters rise to the top with their bravery and heart; they willingly pay the price. But the process and acknowledgement of those brave characters keep readers hanging and waiting with bated breath until the end.

Beartown is a simply told story, but it is anything but simple. Backman's clean, uncluttered prose clarifies the available choices he gives to his characters, and removes everything that isn't essential. The underlying theme of family, love, and friendship permeates Beartown, as it has his other novels and guides readers to examine our own values, choices, and long-held beliefs. His imperfect characters, with their hidden insecurities and strengths, enhance the realistic plot. A Man Called Ove will always be my favorite Backman book, but Beartown is a close second.

Beartown is a hockey town. All the boys in town either play hockey or want to play hockey. The great hockey players are teenagers, yet are seen as stars in town. They are treated differently and given certain privileges. Beartown is a tiny forest town where everyone knows each other and everyone loves hockey. On the night of a very important semi-final match an incident occurs which shakes the town to its core. The townspeople may think they know each other, but when they come face to face with a catastrophic event, people who were convinced they knew their neighbors will have to rethink everything they know.

I had a very difficult time trying to decide if this should be a 4 or 5 star book. I very rarely give a book 5 stars. This book came very close. The only thing preventing a 5 star review is the fact that it took a little bit for me to get into the story. After the first 1/4 I was hooked. I loved the development of the characters and how their relationships with each other unfolded. I cried several times and fell in love with Amat, Benji, and Bobo (not to mention Maya and Ana). 4.5 stars for this highly recommended book!

Fredrik Backman has become one of my auto-read authors. I haven't read A Man Called Ove yet, (gasp! I know and I intend to rectify that soon), but I loved Britt-Marie Was Here and more recently, his novella And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer. I find his characters fascinating, his writing brilliant and his plots drawn from reality, but with a touch of the whimsical. I expected much of the same from his latest Beartown.

I was so wrong, and yet I was so right! Beartown is very different in tone from all is other books, and is a much more serious read. It has none of the whimsy, but all of the very human emotions that characterize Backman's work. I would go so far as to say that Beartown is, according to me, his best work so far.

On the surface, it seemed to me to have similarities to Britt-Marie Was Here. Like Britt-Marie, the book is set in a small town on it's last legs, grasping for survival. The only hope in both cases are the sports teams--soccer in Britt-Marie and hockey, in Beartown. And that is where the similarity ends.

Where the sports in Britt-Marie is used as a force for good, for team building and positivity, hockey in Beartown becomes the seed-bed for a toxic culture that leads to a reprehensible act of rape. However, as a character points out in the book, it is not hockey that is to blame. Rape is the fault of the rapist, always. However, the book does discuss how the air of toxic masculinity and sexism around a sport can make the people around it blind to the faults of "boys who will be boys."

Let me begin then with a content warnings for rape, violent and misogynistic language, rape jokes, homomisia and suicidal ideation. There is a pretty detailed description of a rape scene from the POV of the person being raped and this may be triggering.

The book opens with the intriguing line that one March evening, one teenager puts a shotgun to another teenager's head and pulls the trigger, and that this book is the story of how we get there. It does not tell us yet, who pulled the trigger and who was at shot at and what happens after. Instead it jumps back in time, to introduce us to the main characters- Kevin, the star of the hockey team; The Andersson family consisting of Peter-the manager of the hockey team, Kira, his wife, who is a lawyer, Maya their 15 year old daughter, and Leo, their 12 year old son. Other important characters are Amat, a poor Muslim boy with a prodigious talent for hockey and who is in love with Maya, Ana who is Maya's best friend and Benji, Kevin's best friend, who is in the closet.

The first 30% of the book, was just set up as we are introduced to these and other characters and the stage is set for the events to follow. It is after this 30% mark that the book really picks up and hurtles towards what feels like an inevitable tragedy, even as the reader imagines the worst, and hopes for the words to be different.

Unfortunately, it is tragedy that we get. Kevin rapes Maya at an after-party post their semi-final win.

At this point the book becomes an excellent commentary on rape culture --how people choose sides, choosing to blame the victim, the "boys will be boys" excuse, "locker room talk", "hearing both sides of the story", and all those phrases that we hear thrown about in the newspapers when a rape occurs in real life. I will say again that all this may be triggering for someone who has lived through such an experience. I myself, found it very difficult to read, and was devastated by it. It is absolutely not an easy read at all. We speak so often about rape culture, and Backman's book is a harsh reminder of how it is born and how it grows.

The book also explores the ideas of family, friendship, community and the fragile bonds that hold them together. Backman, as always excels at getting the reader into the skin of the characters, allowing us to think and feel as they do. There is a diverse cast of characters as one can already surmise from the description of the plot above, and Backman treats each character with respect.

While most of the book made me weep with sadness and anger,  at the end Backman left me with tears of joy and hope. Beartown is undeniably one of the best books of 2017, and I urge everyone (who will not be triggered) to go read it. It will leave you with a crater in your heart.

FTC disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for this honest review.
Note: This blog post will go live on 23rd August, 2017, on my blog.

What can I say about this book...? I absolutely LOVED it! The story centers around a community and its sport of hockey. An event happens involving everyone from the hockey team, to family, friends, local businesses, and the rest of the community. It reminded me much of the movie Varsity Blues and brought back a lot of memories of growing up and supporting my local hockey team.

The book follows a lot of characters, but it flowed perfectly. It was sort of reminiscent of Celeste Ng's "Everything I Never Told You" in that there was no distinct title saying which character I was following, but it didn't matter because the story kept moving.

I believe the strength of this book is in the expression of how silence can be just as deafening as noise and actions can speak so much more than words. We take for granted how much the things we don't say can make a much more of an impact over the things we do say.

Please, please go read this book! Fredrik Backman has truly become an all-time favorite of mine. I received this copy via Netgalley for an honest review, but I can't wait to collect all his works!

This was SO different from his other books, but it was a compelling read nevertheless and certainly did not disappoint.

This was another well-written novel by Fredrik Backman. Once again, he writes well-developed complex characters that makes the reader interested in them. When I realized what the subject matter of this book was, I almost stopped reading because I knew parts would be upsetting, but I'm glad I stuck with it because it's a well flushed out story.

Beartown takes a look at the dynamics of a small town and its residents who live in the woods. The town's entire culture and psyche is centered on that of the junior hockey team. Their identities along with their goals, their economics, their purpose in life are tied up in it. Think Friday Night Lights but more intense. Backman introduces us to several people - adults and teenagers - who are directly or indirectly involved with the hockey team and shows us how their lives are impacted by it. It takes a few pages to meet all of them but as soon as he's set that up he's the director having the camera slowly pan out, giving us a wider scope of the town. The result is that we see what hockey means to these individuals, what they've done for it, sacrificed for it and ultimately created because of it. Beartown is another testament to Backman's amazing ability to write about people's flaws and strengths, bringing their humanity to the forefront. What he's done here is show us that sometimes that thing that unites a community can also be something that pits one against the other. In this case, it's a sports culture that makes celebrities out of those who aren't ready, and how bringing them to cult-like status can create heroes and villains.

The beauty of Beartown is that we get to be inside the minds of all the characters and see how they affect one another. It's such a lovely advantage as a reader to be able to have that within reach but it's also an imposing thing as the story takes on a dark turn. You're an eyewitness to these events as the chips fall into place, coming to a climax that you're anxiously awaiting. Backman lays it out perfectly, weaving together their histories and keeping you guessing as to what's next. All the while, these characters feel real and their struggles or insecurities are relatable. You can recognize those things in them which makes this story an interesting study in human psychology and relationships.

I'm not going to delve into plot specifics because the effect won't be as impressive if you're not watching it unfold yourself. The first page did startled me. It had me wondering as I continued when Backman would bring me back to that very moment on that first page. The anticipation gave me a rush! Because there are so many characters, there are a several storylines and for the most part they do intersect. By the way, there are some triggers but in order to avoid spoilers I've included them in the labels so please refer to them if you'd prefer to know ahead of time.

I've wanted to read Beartown for months ever since I saw it was out in Backman's native Sweden. Sadly or rather inconveniently, I don't speak Swedish so I've had to wait patiently for it to be released in the US. As I've come to expect it's another outstanding novel from a master storyteller. The surprise though was the type of story this was and how serious it became. But it's the various twists and revelations that make Beartown a must-read now and a must-have addition to your bookshelf!

~ Bel

I love this author, and ended up loving this book, but it did take me a bit longer to get into it than his others.