Anne was happy to feature this book in her 2017 Summer Reading Guide!

i was not expecting much about this story but growing up in a small town where hockey players were gods made me read this book in a flash. Plots blend together in a flowing style and achieves an interesting ending. The author gives the reader this wonderful gift where he can create real people with flaws and still makes you root for them. A commendable read for book discussion.

Backman's new book reads more like a thriller than his previous books. Each character is well developed and, as he reveals who they truly are, their pieces of the puzzle that is the small forest town they live in click into place. Beautifully written and captivating from the first page. I highly recommend for any Backman fan and fans of literary fiction.

A true masterpiece for our time.

This is the kind of book that stays with you for years after you finish reading. Why? Because there is so much truth in the author's words. The way the plot unfolds, the way the characters react and interact, the conclusion of the story are all entirely believable, even when you don't want it to be. This is a book that makes you look inward and evaluate your own beliefs. That may be uncomfortable but masterpieces that speak true of the human condition do that to us.

There are many things about this book that I feel authors are told to avoid. I can hear it now. 'There are too many characters.' 'There isn't enough action.' 'There's too much repetition.' 'It's too long.' And every single one of them would be wrong. This book is packed with movement and pace that pushes you more deeply into Beartown, like each step into a snowy forest that swallows you before you realize you've lost track of the path. Each character has a purpose and adds to the larger story. The book is written in this snippet style that jumps between characters constantly and keeps you enthralled each section. (My favorite is the paragraph that begins chapter 42. Wow.) There are these mantras too, these big ideas, that surround whole chapters and the entire book that bleed into you as you read it until you accept it as truth. Because it is truth, to Beartown.

Honestly, this review could never do this book justice. When a book makes you audibly say 'wow' in an empty room, you know it's special. I'm pretty harsh with my reviews, not because I like to be critical but because I stand by my honest opinion. And this book has left me speechless. It deserves five stars and better words than mine to tell you how special it is. To understand, I would suggest reading it.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Atria Books, and the author Fredrik Backman for the chance to read it.

I have to start this review by saying I am a fan of Fredrik Backman's writing and have loved all of his previous books. I felt Beartown was somewhat of a departure from the tone of his earlier books and dealt with some weighty topics, but it still has all the amazing character development that I've come to expect from Mr. Backman. Our book club selected this as our monthly pick and it truly generated some of the best discussions we have had in a long time.

Beartown is the story of a town on the brink of something. Is Beartown destined for greatness when the hockey team wins their championship game and energizes not only the town's residents but the community's economy, or is Beartown heading for extinction when the hockey team loses that championship match and Beartown fades into obscurity.

This novel is also the story of family, those who are blood related and those who become like family to us. It is also a story of strength, courage and determination on so many different levels. It is a story of conflict, doubt and growing up. Beartown is all these things and so much more.

I enjoyed this book, but I will say that it doesn't move as fast as some of Mr. Backman's previous work. I was about 30% into the book and having some difficulty engaging in the plot as well as keeping track of the many characters, but it is worth sticking it out because this is such a well crafted novel. I believe Beartown is the first in a trilogy so that will give readers an opportunity to continue on the journey with Beartown and its residents.

I received this book courtesy of Atria Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Beartown is one of the most anticipated books this year from Fredrik Backman. If you are looking for another Ove novel, this one is not it and is very different than anything Backman has written before. I love it when novelist take risks and Backman does just that with this new novel.

Beartown is set in a small forest town obsessed with hockey. The Bears of Beartown win and they have their strongest team yet and a true possibility of winning of the national semi—finals. Just as they approach their biggest game of the season, a violent act occurs that threatens the reputation of the strongest player on the team. To make matters worse, the family involved in this act also happens to be in charge of the hockey team. A father is then placed in a position he could have never conceived especially when an entire town is ready to demonize anyone who would ever speak against their star player.

Much like Into the Water (by Paula Harris), Backman has taken on a large cast of characters and the first half of the book feels mostly like introductions to each person to set the stage for the turning point in the plot. Although I love Backman’s writing, the first half felt sluggish. As so many other readers had promised, when reading other reviews, the second half was much better once the plot actually got moving.

This is still a solid read, but you have to have the patience to power through the first half to get to the meat of the plot.

Backman takes on so many issues in this novel: sport fanaticism, date rape, dying towns, class, privilege, and homosexuality. Beartown (the town) is populated with the usual Backman quirky characters, of all ages, that I came to care about. Backman doesn't disappoint. I'll read his next book.

I am a big fan of Fredrik Backman's books, and just like in previous books, Backman does an excellent job of creating characters. However, Beartown, with its much more serious themes, is a departure from his previous books, and I found I didn't enjoy it as much—probably because I was expecting something along the lines of A Man Called Ove or My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, which this was not.

How I enjoy this author's novels! He certainly knows how to tell a story.

Beartown is a story about small-town hockey and it's community. People with hopes, dreams, heartache, corruption and secrets.

The town revolves around it's junior hockey team and they are about to compete in the national semi-finals. It's now up to a group of teenage boys to fulfill the hopes and dreams of Beartown.

A violent act occurs against a young girl leaving the town in shock and turmoil. Accusations are made leaving no resident unaffected. The majority of Beartown residents desperately want to believe that this event didn't happen with many having a disturbing feeling that it's true. Unexpected citizens come forward to try to save the town.

Backman is a gifted writer when it comes to examining humanity. He creates characters that are so real that we feel as if we know them. And we certainly won't easily forget them.

I highly recommend this unique, touching and thought-provoking story!

Many thanks to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an arc of this novel.

You know you're in for a treat when a book begins with this: "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." Beartown grabs you from the opening sentence and doesn't let go until the very end. It's an enthralling tale of a small town that's slowly dying and the sacrifices and excuses the people are willing to make to put the town back on the map. With thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

On man--I didn't think this author could top A Man Called Ove, but I believe he did! That being said this is a MUCH different story. This one is much darker--about a small Swedish town with a dying factory economy and the only thing giving the town hope is the hockey team and it's promising, gifted player Kevin. Unfortunately, the team seems to be more important than the people in the town.

This book was so good and so compelling, but the story so dark and sad that you just know it can't end well. I felt myself not wanting to read on . . . but at the same time I just HAD to! Great, great, great book...but not for the faint of heart.

This book is a bit different from others by Fredrik Backman, there is no likeable curmudgeon as the focus of this story, it is about a town and the inhabitants. Beartown is a small, dying town that doesn't have much except their love of hockey. This simple fact drives this story. The junior team is in the country's semi-finals for the 17 year old division. When they win this game, there is a wild party in which a crime is committed. The story continues around the belief of the town that the star of the team, could not possibly have done what he is accused of. There are several families that are central to this story and they each have a different dynamic, which of course affects how the children act. There is bullying and teasing, turning a blind eye to behaviours if you are on the team, drugs, alcohol, skipping school, loyalty to friends and team, as well as wonderful love and friendship. This is a story that will make you laugh and cry.

There are so many messages and questions that arise in this book. Does sports build character? Are the rich and famous given a free pass to commit crimes if they have enough money to pay a good lawyer? How many times can the victim be victimized by those around them? Should groups/schools/organizations be allowed to handle situations internally? Do the police really investigate thoroughly when they think they already know the answer? There is one quote in this book that really sticks with me: "This town doesn't always know the difference between right and wrong, I'll admit that. But we know the difference between good and evil." That sums up a lot of this story.

When I first started this book, I put it aside as it was not what I expected and it dragged a bit, but stick with it. Once I got partway into it, I could not put it down. A wonderful book that would be a great addition to a high school English curriculum.

When I read A man called Ove or My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman I was blown away by the stories originality. At that point I had never read such an unique plot before, or had the pleasure of reading about characters that were this incredibly fascinating in their uniqueness. It was storytelling of it's FINEST!!!!
Reading Beartown was unfortunately a letdown.

There were two reasons why this book didn't work for me.

I don't want to spoil the book, just saying that I didn't expect this book to go in the direction it went. Maybe I put the author on such a high pedestal that a fall was inevitable. That's something I'll keep in mind next time I'll pick up one of his books. Nevertheless I hoped for something similar to A man called Ove or My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and that was just not the case.

Even so the writing was superb - because Fredrik Backman is definitely an author that can spin a captivating story. I got quickly tired of the authors habit of foreshadowing situations and events that might or might not happen just to keep the tension high. Many of his chapters and paragraphs ended with a suggestion that something bad could be happening. I don't remember him doing so in A man called Ove or My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, I'll have to go back to check it.
All in all it was a disappointment for me.

On a positive note, I will always read his books, because I believe that he has more originality in his small finger than many other authors combined. At least my hopes are high that he goes back and writes a plot that makes my mind go BOOM!!!


this review will go online on May 17th 2017

Typical Fredrick Backman - no surprises, no disappointments!

If you were only able to read one book this year, Beartown is the one I would recommend.

In this book about a town where hockey is everything, Fredrik Backman explores the human condition, what people hold as their priorities and how they react when faced with difficult questions. If I thought his previous novels showed heart, Beartown shows heart, soul, empathy, compassion, and wisdom. It’s the one single light in a very dark tunnel.

Beartown is a microcosm of the world. Amazingly it feels as if Backman has tackled almost every civil issue within the scope of these 432, showing what it means to be human and react in a humane way. Likewise, the flipside of that coin is also shown: how a victim can be made to feel guilty and how the guilty are made out to be victims; how money and greed permit men to believe they can behave any way they want; and how easy it is to antagonize and bully others because of their lack of status or different ethnicity.

In the thoughtful manner in which it’s told, Beartown reminded me at the outset of another novel in which a town faces a tragedy, The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. But there is a gentleness to Beartown, even when nastiness seems to prevail, that leaves the reader feeling as there is always hope. I fell in love with the characters and the storytelling and wanted to get to the end, but never wanted it to end.

I started reading Beartown after a particularly unfulfilling read because I felt I deserved to read Fredrik Backman’s newest novel. I received more than I expected. This novel took me on an emotional roller coaster of joy and expectation and fear and tears. And, yes, even though I felt that the ending was satisfying, tears coursed over my cheeks as I read the last words.

Now I have to figure out what’s beyond 5 out of 5 butterflies.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Another reviewer compared “Beartown” to “Friday Night Lights.” I must agree that there are many parallels between the two.

Both are rich in storytelling and interesting and alive with people. Beartown is a small village in Sweden. It is a town that is found in a forest and is slowly dying. Jobs are lost, hope is lost and the hockey team is the only thing that seems to keep the village alive. Indeed the people of the village seemed to have pinned all their hopes for the future on the hockey team. It is almost religious in nature. It is as though if the team could only win, then all worries and pain would be erased. (It’s almost scary the fervency in which the people believe.)

This is an excellently written and plotted novel. The language is well used and descriptive. I have not read Fredrik Backman before, but it was a pleasure to do so. I will most certainly look into his other books.

I want to thank Netgalley and Atria Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read.

Frederik Hackman gets to the heart of struggling characters and draws the reader in. Another winner.

this book wrecked me.
i've never read anything by this author, i can't imagine how his other books can possibly compare or be so intense. beautifully written, great characters, plot is kinda eh but it's not a plot driven story in my opinion. the first page sucks you in and you kind of forget about it until the small mentions of 'something bad is coming' peppered throughout the book.
so emotional. such a good book. thanks netgalley!

Except for hockey, there's almost nothing left in Beartown, unless something changes. That something could be coming this year, since their junior team is finally good enough. If they succeed, who knows what that fame could bring? Maybe even a new hockey academy. Unfortunately, after the junior team won the semi-finals, something happened that changed everything, for both the team and the town. Now they have to deal with the harder question, which is, did this change Beartown for the worse or for the better?

I have absolutely no interest in most sports (well, except when the Cubs won the World Series), and novels surrounding sports are usually ones for me to avoid. However, I did read Backman's novel "Britt-Marie Was Here" despite the focus on soccer. Although I'm no more interested in soccer than I was before I read that book, as most of my readers know, I adored that book. This is because what Backman did when he wrote that story is similar to what he did here, he wrote about people who are passionate about something, and how that fills their lives. Through their enthusiasm, we quickly realize that it can sometimes help them focus to the point of obsession, while at the same time it can also blind them. In this way, even when Backman goes into the details of the team playing their all-important game, we realize that this story isn't only about hockey; it is a metaphor to investigate the flawed human condition.

One quote from this novel that's already showing up in the PR is "Never trust people who don't have something in their lives that they love beyond reason." Of course, this is technically referring to hockey, but I'm thinking that it's practically the theme of this book. By this, I mean that the enormous love for the various things that Backman shows us in this novel (hockey, family, a town, etc.) don't always make them trustworthy, they can sometimes make them reckless, which can also be damaging. Despite this, when your love for something is beyond reason, that passion also gives you the type of inner strength that can help you survive any damage caused by reckless actions. The balancing act that Backman plays between the positive and negative results of such obsessions is what I found pervasive throughout this novel, and what made it so amazing.

That's just one reason to love this book, but there are many more. Another reason is how Backman succeeds in portraying this unusually large group of characters so vividly, blemishes and all. This was particularly important to me since I often get confused when there are too many characters to keep track of. Yet here, Backman's deep and intimate understanding of the people he's placed in Beartown practically forced him to give every one of them a distinctive tenor and cadence to their voices. This will lead readers to care for these characters as deeply as Backman obviously does, which in turn will lead to some laughter as well as no small amount of tears. There's also Backman's deceptively simple literary style of writing, within which he strews sparks of wisdom, traces of poetry and as already noted, flashes of humor.

However, one of the most artistic reasons to admire this book is Backman's pacing. Consider this - the opening line of this book is "Late one evening towards 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." You cannot deny how incredible that opening line is, and then he immediately begins to slide carefully upwards towards the climax, using a very subtle incline. Then, when he gets to the climax, it's like watching a small explosion go off. From then on, his narrative takes on a somewhat blurry, disconnected, almost remote quality, which colors the book's whole atmosphere from that point. To me, it felt like he went from a conventional solid narrative, to one that you could compare to describing shattered glass (or shards of ice, if you will). That felt like yet another metaphor for how the climactic event traumatized the whole town as well as the individuals involved. One mechanic that Backman employed to emphasize this was in how instead of using the characters' names, he referred to them using general nouns (a boy, the girl, a woman, the man, etc.). That could have confused me, but by the time Backman made this switch, I knew these characters so well that I instinctively knew whom he was talking about; which I think was pure genius.

As you can tell, I absolutely adored this book. However, some readers might be less than thrilled with the detailed descriptions of the hockey games in the first part of this book. I would understand if they felt this slows down the story, and I have to admit that I too rushed through some of those parts. Despite that, once I got to the climax and the rest of the story fanned out in front of me, I understood the importance of those parts of the story to the overall novel. In other words, Backman proved to me yet again, what an astonishingly wonderful master storyteller he is (as if I didn't know that already)! Obviously, I can't give it less than a full five stars.

Beartown is a tiny Swedish town with one pub, one factory, one supermarket and an ice hockey ring. Only the men play ice hockey. And all the men in the town play ice hockey. Because they are the Bears from Beartown.
As an Australian I have never grown up in the snow, and don't understand ice hockey nor could I say I have a particular interest in it, which is why I started this book with no expectations. I just wanted to read it because I think Backman is a pretty awesome author. Well now I think he is a brilliant author. I have no words to describe how amazing his writing is in this book.
Written in an almost episodic style, this reads like a TV show playing out in front of you, but with some of the most poignant observations about human behaviour provided in precise and extremely well executed statements. I was highlighting so much as I read that I was a little concerned the whole book would end up highlighted! One of my favourites is:
<i>"When I was little, my dad used to hit me if I spilled my milk. That didn't teach me not to spill things. It just made me scared of milk."</i>
The book is about a small town, and ice hockey, but it also about culture, community, family, loyalty and bravery. I don't want to give the plot away, but I do think it is important to give people a trigger warning, which I'll put under a spoiler <spoiler> that this book does describe a rape and the aftermath for the victim</spoiler>.
So this gets 5 stars for me because I can't fault the writing, it made me cry and laugh and hurt so much. Backman really made me care about these characters and I shall carry them around with me for a while.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.