Out today is The Winners, the third book in Fredrik Backman’s acclaimed Beartown trilogy. This won’t be an extensive review because it’s impossible to describe the tale without spoilers. If you haven’t read Beartown or Us Against You, stop reading this review and read those magnificent stories. This is a true trilogy and you must read them in order. It’s been two a half years since the rape and other tragedies in Beartown. Beartown and Hed are rival Swedish hockey towns that detest each other. After the roof of Hed’s hockey rink collapses during a storm, the Hed team is sent to practice in Beartown and problems multiply.

Maya and Benji have returned to town and everyone is glad to see them but unsure about the consequences of their past issues. Amat is back after an injury and a failed attempt to make it in the NHL leaves him demoralized. Maya’s parents Peter and Kira are overwhelmed by an embezzlement scandal involving the Beartown club. Perhaps, most frightening is Matteo’s bitterness and desire for revenge after his older sister dies of an overdose.

With so much trauma and violence, it may be up to the women to do something to change the culture before it’s too late. Some reviews found this book too long. I could have read more because I loved the side stories about each of the characters from the first two novels. Revenge, loyalty, friendship, identity, and forgiveness are themes in this novel that takes a slightly moralistic turn. For series fans that turn will be a welcome one.

Summing it Up: At 688 pages, The Winners is just long enough to wrap up the series and show how each of the characters has grown or changed. The “aha” moment is both surprising and believable and series fans will love the conclusion. Open the first page and fall under Backman’s spell.

Rating: 5 Stars

Publication Date: September 27, 2022

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Book Club

Author Website: https://fredrikbackmanbooks.com/index.html

Reading Group Guide: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Winners/Fredrik-Backman/Beartown-Series/9781982112790

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/fredrik-backman/the-winners/

Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/9781982112790

Let me just start with this: The 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 series is a five-star, heart-breaking, thought-provoking, and must-read series! Okay, now that we have that straight, onto 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 brings us back to Beartown, about two years after the events that rocked a hockey-centered town set somewhere in a northern forest. This is a story that opens old wounds, creates some new ones, and shows how truly hard it is to move on.

I will say that if you haven’t read 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, you may have to try to figure out these characters’ connections and their past hurts - but you do have 700 pages to do so.

Fredrik Backman has a way of understanding life and expressing it through words. He is a keen observer of us humans, and how we interact; he’s great at tearing out our hearts too.

𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 was brilliant, and I understand why we needed to revisit it in 𝐔𝐬 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 and now in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬. But, even as much as I loved 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬, as I read, I kept thinking, it all started with that masterpiece…𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧.


Thank you @simonandschuster for this gifted ebook

Great story teller! I read this last of Beartown trilogy and then went and saw Fredrick Bachman and bought the book! This book does disappoint. I loved Beartown and Us Against You and now the Winners. The story continues with some the same characters and new ones. It’s a hefty one but so glad I could read it early. This is an author that I always just want his next book!

With as much as I have loved Fredik Backman's previous books (both the ones in this series and all of his other books), there was a lot of pressure going into this one--would I love it as much? Would it meet my expectations? Would it rip me apart and put me back together again as much as his other books? So I was definitely on tenterhooks heading into this one....and I have to say, the first little bit didn't capture me as much as I was hoping. The foreshadowing and hinting and me being so nervous about what was going to happen was bugging me (which isn't necessarily a reflection of the writing but of my emotional investment in these characters!)--but there was no way I wasn't going to finish it.
And just like with his other books, Backman broke my heart and made me smile (several times but perhaps no more than with BOBO! Oh my gosh! The cuteness!) and made me think so much about why people would make the choices that they make. That might be what I love most of about Backman's writing--it makes me be empathetic, it makes me see the pieces that make up the people who then make the choices that drive us nuts or hurt us or that heal us and save us. It's really hard to dislike anyone in his books--be disappointed by them? Sure? Want to smack them upside the head sometimes? Absolutely. But actually dislike them? No, because we've seen the glimpses into their who they are and why they are who they and seen ourselves in them, which makes us hope for good things for them--and for ourselves by extension. (There are a couple of characters that are the exception to that, but given more page space, maybe even they would be sympathetic characters.)
I loved seeing the characters from the previous books as well as meeting new characters in this one, and while I tried to savor this while simultaneously reading quickly because I needed to know what was going to happen, I can't wait to re-read it and to look for the things I missed along the way. (I might have to wait a few months until my heart can handle revisiting it, though!)

Another fabulous book by Fredrik Backman and definitely one of my favorite books of the year.

I read an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Winners returns to the small town of Beartown to continue the story. Set two year after the events, Bearyiwn is forever changed over the course of two weeks. This novel ties up loose ends and shows the far reaching effects that decisions have on those around them.
Very powerful conclusion. Recommended for those who have read Beartown.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for my honest review.

The Winners is the 3rd book in Fredrik Backman's Beartown series. It should not be read as a stand-alone. This story deals with the struggles of daily life in a small Swedish town that is obsessed with hockey. There is corruption, dysfunctional families, and tragedy combined with friendship, love, and community pride.


Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for my advanced reader copy.

I always have the hardest time reviewing Backman’s work because I feel as though I can barely use my words once I finish them. The Beartown saga, finishing here with The Winners, is a true triumph of contemporary literature and I am confident that it will continue to be one of those stories that readers turn to for years because stories like these are always relevant. It’s a story that gets at the deepest part of what it means to be human, in all the great and terrible ways, and those resonant with every generation.

In The Winners, we’ve had a gap of two years since the previous book ended so it’s a little peek at what our beloved characters have been up to (i.e. who has healed, who hasn’t, what demons still haunt, what all is still broken) as well as the introduction of an even larger cast of new faces. Backman is a master of character creation and depth. How he weaves them all together, with all the intense emotions, is astonishing. There was no weak character, despite the huge cast.

I was initially worried about the length of the book but it quickly became clear that every word was chosen for a reason. The prose has a wonderful rhythm to it, the repeating phrases coming in with goo impact. Everything reinforces the humanity of the story. It’s not an easy book but it is a truthful one. It’s honesty in its rawest, purest form.

I cannot recommend the Beartown trilogy enough. Each subsequent book stayed with me for years after reading and I doubt I will ever fully forget them. Absolutely any reader should try it because everyone will find something of themselves in the story of Beartown and Hed.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

The third book in the Beartown series. This series is so well written. I had been anxiously waiting for this one!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. It should be noted that I primarily consumed this novel as I consumed the earlier entries - via audio on the Scribd app. The narrator Marin Ireland is absolutely exceptional - I need to find more of her narrated books.

With the knowledge that The Winners would have a late September (the 27th) release, I made the decision in late August to read both Bear Town and Us Against You in prep for it, and absolutely loved both (while being emotionally devastated by them, and feeling complete rage toward the evil things that people are capable of doing to one another in the real world.) I gave both of them easy 5 stars earlier in the month, and expected no less from this entry.

As usual, Backman is only happy when I am left an empty shell of myself staring blankly at the wall and wondering how everything could have gone so terribly wrong. Somehow, I need all of this mistreatment, and will certainly continue to read as much of his work as I can possibly get my hands on. Bravo Frederick - mission accomplished in destroying my delicate emotional state.

The Winners by Fredrik Backman was all I had hoped it would be….A WINNER! Once again Fredrick Backman transported me back to the rivalries between Beartown and Hed, to hockey, to competition, to old, familiar and well loved characters and to some new characters as well, to happiness and yes to sadness in its rawest form. Maya and Benji traveled home to Beartown after being away for two long years. Both Maya and Benji tried desperately over those two years to forget all the things that had made them both leave in the first place. Maya left for music school and to forget what Kevin had done to her. Benji simply just ran away. They both tried hard to reinvent themselves and fit into their new surroundings and lives. A simple phone call lured them both back home. How could they not be present? Little did either of them know about the storm that would precede their arrival in Beartown by just a day. A storm, like no other storm! One that would cause such devastation and destruction to both Beartown and Hed and all the people that lived there. An untimely death brought Maya and Benji back home but a forewarning had been given from the very start of The Winners that “Boys like Benji die young. They die violently.” I was so unprepared for how and why his death would actually occur.

Fredrik Backman introduced some rather new and darker characters into The Winners. Matteo was a young troubled solitary fourteen year old adolescent boy that had lost his sister, Ruth, his best friend. Maya and Matteo’s sister were both victims of rape but the circumstances that led to each rape, the lives Ruth and Maya led, and the final outcomes from each rape were so completely different from one another. Once Matteo discovered the truth behind his sister’s disappearance and ultimate death all he could contemplate and think about was getting revenge for his sister, Ruth. Matteo lived in Beartown but he was invisible to most. His parents were religious fanatics and not very good at parenting. Matteo chose a dark and dangerous path to travel down. Would anyone be able to stop him?

I loved how Amat’s character found its way back to Beartown hockey and his friends. It took a while, but slowly Amat was resurrected into the hockey player he had been before he was turned down by the NHL. Amat became Beartown’s hero again. I really enjoyed the transformation of Bobo’s character. Bobo’s romance with Jess was endearing and sweet. I didn’t care for Tails and all his manipulations with the hockey teams. Beartown and Hed had enough problems without his interference and sneaky maneuvers. Clearly, Tails was out for himself and didn’t care who got hurt along the way until he finally found his conscience. It was nice to recognize the new respectfulness and acceptance that Peter and Teemu discovered. I was glad that Peter found his way back to hockey. He was like a lost soul working with his wife in her office. I loved that Maya and Ana were able to pick up their friendship as if no time had lapsed at all. And then there was Benji. Perhaps he had the hardest time acclimating back to Beartown. Benji was someone you would always want on your side, someone you could always count on and someone who would always be there for you.

Everything that occurred in The Winners happened over a two week timeline. In that time, Beartown and Hed would be changed forever. Was it better? You decide. Although the ending was beyond sad, Fredrick Backman left us with hope for the future. The Winners was a moving and satisfying conclusion for the series for me. I did feel that the beginning of The Winners was slow but the ending was quite satisfying. The characters in this series crept into my heart. I will miss them. From this book I gained a sense of hope, friendship, respect, conflict, acts of kindness, loss, devastation, and loyalty from the characters. All my emotions were tested and spent while I read The Winners. It was an extremely long book and I felt that it probably could have been shortened but I also did not want it to end. I will truly miss reading about the characters in Beartown and Hed. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Atria Books for allowing me to read this ARC of The Winners by Fredrik Backman in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

5 stars for the characters, 3 stars for the plot

“This hurts too much to touch with words.”

The Winners is the conclusion to the Beartown saga. In this installment, someone dies, a celebrated hero returns, and a little girl becomes the symbol of hope for a town devastated by a violent act.

There is no point in reading The Winners if you haven’t read Beartownand Us Against You.

This wasn’t a lovefest for me. Coming in at a little under 700 pages, this book was too long-- parts were repetitive, and some of the storylines were dragged out, whereas others were not given enough attention. It is an understatement to say that the narrative was uneven.

Similar to books one and two, the narrative alternated between characters, with many allusions to the past and future. Backman likes to highlight connections, from the obvious to the minute, which made this a slow and tedious read.

I didn’t love the first half, and there were even times that I had to force myself to continue reading. While I loved reuniting with the characters, it was a long ride to get to the end.

But my love for the characters kept me reading. They are the best part of this series. I think I love them a little too much!

The last 20% filled me with dread. I knew what was coming, but I refused to believe it. This part of the book is also the heart of the book, as readers have to say goodbye. After finishing this book, I am an emotional mess. Saying goodbye to these characters was harder than I thought.

The journey to get there was long and harrowing but worth it in the end. This series has touched my heart, and the characters have made a mark. As hard as the ending was to read, it was, in essence, perfect.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

“This hurts too much to touch with words.”

This is exactly how I feel. The Winners was one of my most anticipated reads this year. How could it not be? I love everything that Backman writes. I would read his grocery list. I’m sure with how wordy this book is, he would have some type of powerful message about carrots. I’m at a loss for words right now and it’s a familiar feeling with his work. I’m a bit bummed that this wasn’t five sparkling stars but it was close.

First, let’s get my biggest issue with this book out of the way. I was shocked to see this book is almost 700 pages! Especially, for the last book in a trilogy. Regardless, I went in with high hopes. It took me a while to get into this one. There are many new characters and stories that we get into it. There is a large part of the first half of this book that it’s about the new characters more than our original characters. I get it by the end but it could have been a bit shorter. Even though I struggled with the plot and pacing a bit his characters were SPOT ON.

Backman has a gift at creating some of the most amazing characters that will stay with you, pretty much forever. I was so happy to get more from Benji, Maya, Ana, Bobo, Amat, Peter, and Kira. I am forgetting so many more but you get the point. I have to take a special moment and talk about Ramona. She’s always been one of my favorite characters and it’s insane how vital she is to this town! It’s been two years since our last book and our characters are all over the place. A crazy storm comes in and things happen that have them all coming back. Benji has been one of my favorites from all the books and his character arc is just epic. I can’t say too much more but if you’ve read the first two books then you kind of guess where it goes.

This series is not light-hearted at all. He gets into some very dark subjects- rape, violence, drugs, alcohol, and some heavy family dynamics. In this one he tackles some troubled marriages on top of all that. With this whole series, there is a lot of politics involved, more than you might think. This has never been a story just about hockey but the darker sides of people. Backman explores the line between good becoming evil and evil becomes good. He does it in such a brilliant way too. One of my favorite things about Backman’s writing is the way he has such beautiful and heartbreaking ways to make such clever points. For example, I read this and my heart kind of broke a little bit…

“How many more years of this will Hannah herself have, at best? Soon it will be over. Soon they’ll be grown-up. Mothers have no armor to get them through life because they give every last bit to their children, by the end of their teenage years there isn’t even any skin left, so every feeling of loss cuts right into her flesh now.”

Are you kidding me, Mr. Backman?! He has so many instances of these insights about all different types of situations. It’s what makes me feel this all the more. I don’t know what else to say about this book without giving any spoilers. I will say, it has been a pleasure to read this series and its one that I will recommend and remember forever! There’s so much pain in this book but also healing. There’s always hope. The bear of Beartown was perfection.

Overall, I loved this. It was a heartbreakingly perfect ending to this series. I really could go on and on but I can’t because I don’t do spoilers here! Even if it was a little too long and a bit too slow, I loved seeing more of these characters. If you enjoyed either of his first two books then I think you will this one too. Backman is a genius at telling the most thought provoking stories with fantastic characters. My sweater is full of tears but I have no regrets. Sir, I have loved you since Ove and I will never stop.

Many thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an e-arc to review.

What an ending to this series. Truly award-worthy. The way that Backman writes about the human experience is unlike any other. His writing itself is steeped in meaning; the amount of tabs I used while reading is a bit ridiculous, but a testament to the importance of his writing. I would 100% teach this series in my AP Lit class. Truly a masterpiece.

I didn’t think the Beartown series needed a third book, however, author Fredrik Backman gives fans of his beloved series an equally heart-warming and heart-wrenching finale. From the ominous opening, through the continued promise of something big—both stated and implied—and the shocking culmination, I was hooked.

All the characters that we loved and despised are present, and there are new characters presented from the rival town of Hed. Loves are rekindled. Friendships are renewed. New lives enter the tiny, forest communities and lives are lost. The winners is a rather long book because of the wide cast of characters, and it takes some weaving for all those characters’ storylines to intertwine into the perfect tapestry that is this series end.

Matteo is a character that I felt I should remember from prior books, and like his invisibility to people in Beartown and Hed, I cannot remember him at all! He is, however, key to the story. He is a bit like Shakespeare’s Puck in that he is an instigator, but unlike the seemingly playful mischievousness of Puck, Matteo’s actions are vengeful and catastrophic.

The Winners is more about politics and adults trying to game the system than it was about small-town hockey. I enjoyed seeing some favorite characters again, and falling in love with who Bobo and Benji have become, but as with most youth sports programs, the adult shenanigans sucked the joy out of the game. It was easy to emphasize with the parents’ concern and frustration as well as to hate the politicians and people trying to make money off the leagues. Was it interesting to see the characters' future? Yes. Was it sadly realistic to see the behind-the-scenes politics? Yes. Was it tragic to see the injustices that occur to the “invisibles” that loosely orbit small-town sports heroes? Yes. Is it worth the read? Yes. It is thought-provoking and filled with messages of family, belonging and community.

Fredrik Backman is one of the best fiction writers on the planet. Every book in his Beartown series has tugged at my heartstrings, making me laugh, cry and despair and hope, sometimes within a single chapter or paragraph. This finale to his award winning series ties up all the loose ends. A long book at 670 pages, but I never felt like anything was extraneous or should have been edited out. Fully developed characters, intricate plotlines and tense and tender relationships literally kept me reading late into the night. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader copy.

I have loved the Beartown series from the very first book. Backman’s writing is so unique and immersive - almost as if he is sitting with you and telling a story of this small town in the Swedish wilderness where friendships are formed and lost, families are complicated and hockey is king.

The Winners is the third book in the Beartown series and a fitting end to the people and stories we have come to know and love. We are taken back into the lives of Benji, Maya, Bono and the whole town of Beartown two years after the last book ended - but it feels like we never left.

Through 670 pages we are let back into this community and along the way we met new characters that wound their way into our hearts. At its core this story is a keen observation of human nature and there are so many moments about marriage, love, parenting death and loss that resonated with me.

If you have a chance to buddy read this book - do it! I shared this experience with @bookmarked.by.becky @thesubstitutelibrarian and @andrea.c.lowry.reads and along the way we we’re sharing quotes, fears and tears. Thanks again ladies! You are the best❤️.

Thanks also to @atriabooks for my physical copy and @netgalley for a e-galley!

I’m so sad that this series is over, but this last book was such an emotional roller coaster!

Two years have gone by and big changes are on the horizon, but one thing remains clear…hockey is life for the residents of Beartown. Many characters have returned, and while I loved seeing them reunite and hearing their hilarious playful banter, the reason for their return was a sad one. But the heartache doesn’t end there. Before this story ends, a life is lost and it is just utterly so heartbreaking. It completely blindsided me, and I’m not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears.

This entire series is quite different from Fredrik Backman’s others works, as it has a more serious undertone, but the essence of his writing remains the same. The lessons weaved into his stories are ones that we can all relate to and learn a thing or two from. I have yet to find another author who truly understands the human condition the way that Mr. Backman does, and he continues to amaze me with his emotionally-driven and dynamic stories.

Highly recommend!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy of this book to review.*

I have read everything by Fredrik Backman. He is one of my all-time favorite authors, and the Beartown series is one I always recommend to people. When I saw that the final book in the trilogy was nearly 700 pages long, I was terrified, which did prevent me from immediately inhaling it once I was approved on NetGalley. But when I did pick it up and delve in, the time flew by. I think I spent 10-12 hours reading this book, but I don't think I thought once "how much LONGER is this??" Backman's writing does that to me, and it was not different with The Winners.
There were so many characters and storylines to keep track of, and I will admit, whenever it switched to a different plotline, I'd get a little mad and be like "but I wanna know what's going to happen in the one I've been reading!" and then not two minutes later, I'd be invested. That is to say, it jumps around a lot, but I still enjoyed it immensely.
I'm very excited to be able to be done with this book in time to see Backman live--if his speaking is even half as eloquent as his writing, I know I'll be amazed and entertained throughout.

I've really enjoyed the Beartown series thus far and so was absolutely delighted to get an advanced egalley of The Winners for review. I want to start off with my initial thought after completing the book, which was, HOW DARE YOU! I made the mistake of reading the ending of this book while having maintenance done on my car at the dealership. I was not prepared for the wealth of emotion I would be hit with the ending. The entire series deals with deep and devastating subject matter and there was a lot of foreshadowing that hinted where the story was headed so I should have known better. I'm not a crier but my face must have been betraying me in some way because when the woman at the dealership came to give me an update on my car she felt the need to reassure me that they'd get me a rental car while they tried to figure out the problem and that it was all covered so I didn't need to worry, I chose not to explain that I didn't car nearly as much about my car as the characters in this book. Backman has a unique way of both breaking your heart and giving you hope. He writes about humanity in such a real way and is completely unabashed in stating hard truths. In my opinion, the mark of a good book is it's ability to make you feel something and I can assure you that I felt a lot while reading this book. As is quoted in the book "This hurts too much to touch with words". Yes, yes it does.

So, first of all, Fredrik Backman, how dare you? For real, how DARE you!?

“This hurts too much to touch with words.”

The Beartown books have been some of my very favorite books of all the books I’ve ever read. The writing is beautiful and manages to wrench so much emotion out of my little black heart. Backman somehow manages to make me feel super depressed, but also kind of hopeful, all at the same time and that was no exception with the third (final?) book in the series. The Winners really put me through it.

It wasn’t a perfect book, though. Even though I expect a slower pace and an abundance of details, it took me quite a while to get into this book. I was probably about a third of the way through before I really started to feel invested in it. There is also A LOT going on. I’ve never had trouble keeping up with all the character POVs we get in these books, but I felt like in this one there were maybe a little too many? There’s new characters that were brought in that I could’ve done with seeing a little less of. At almost 700 pages, I felt like there could have been a little more editing.

There were lots of things I loved about it, though, too. Peter and Teemu were the friendship I never knew I needed. Bobo falling in love and just being an all around amazing person was adorable. It’s hard to remember that the first few times we met him in the first book, he was such a jerk. Amat getting back to his old self made my heart happy. And Benji. Oh, Benji. I loved all the scenes that had the group together playing hockey and going camping and letting there be some light in all the darkness. Because this book was hard. I can’t even tell you how many times I thought to myself, “these people need Jesus!” while reading. (And not in the way that poor Ruth and Matteo’s parents used religion.)

I’m not going to talk about what we’ve all feared since the first book. Backman has told us it will happen. Even in the very first chapter of this book, he tells us how it will happen. Even so, I’m not quite sure I’ll ever be able to forgive him for going through with it. (I need Jesus, too.)

Overall, The Winners was a fitting end to the Beartown series. The loose ends were tied up and there were a lot of happy endings, even if we had to go through tragic things to get there. While I do wish this book had been edited down a bit and wasn’t quite so slow to start with, it was really just as beautifully done as the first two books and I know it’s something that will stay with me for a long time.