I didn't possibly think a book could wreck me more than Us Against You did, but I was so wrong. This book left me ugly crying on my front porch for at last the last 30 minutes of reading. I'm not even mad about it. This book makes you feel ever emotion and these characters terse are so so easy to love. This was the perfect ending to my favorite series and I'm sad that it's over and sad I don't get to read it again for the first time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The brilliance of Fredrik Backman’s writing is his ability to captivate an audience and write about the human condition. I fell in love with Ove and there hasn’t been a book of his I haven’t enjoyed, “The Winners” included. I would definitely recommend reading the first two in the series before picking this up. There is a bit of a recap at the beginning of this book, but the series is worth your time as is the length of this installment. I’ve read books that were much shorter, but felt longer when reading, if that makes sense. Pick this one up, but read the previous two books! No spoilers here as Backman’s books are best when going into blind. Check trigger warnings when starting the series. The Winners is a winner…it’s excellent! Completely atmospheric, absorbing, and everything you expect from this writer. 4/5 stars!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

One of the ways I judge a book, is if I can’t stop thinking about it throughout my day. September is a busy month as a kindergarten teacher and I often don’t read much for the first month of school. The Winners had me watching the clock, waiting for the workday to end so I could get back to reading. This book was long, but the characters and book were so complex that the slow build to the ending was necessary. I am sad to see t he Beartown series end, but it will go down as one of my favorites.

Fredrik Backman, you magnificent bastard. How dare you.

How dare you write this masterpiece of a trilogy?
How dare you be so observant of human nature, it feels like you can see into our very souls?
How dare you write so eloquently, yet so simply, about what it means to be lonely, to be loved, to be afraid, to be brave, to be invisible, to be understood, to be part of a community, to be part of a family, to be part of a team, to be part of a movement?
How dare you create these characters, these beautifully flawed characters, these brave and stupid characters, these kind and violent characters, these characters who love and who hate with equal passion, these characters who will crawl slowly into your heart only to break it into a million pieces?
How dare you make me laugh in the midst of my tears? So many tears. Oh so many.
How dare you tell us on page one what will happen yet tell the story in such a way that the tension only builds and builds and builds and when The Terrible Thing happens it is no less impactful for having known it was coming?
How dare you write 1568 pages about this town and these people and leave me still wanting more?

Bravo.

Thank you to Atria books and Ariele Fredman Stewart for the advanced review copy.

CW: Violence, sexual violence, stalking, gun violence, drug use, alcoholism, homophobia including slurs, misogyny, death of an animal, death of a child, child abuse

The Winners has probably been one of my top two or three anticipated books for the whole year, and what a ride! I laughed, I cried - well, mostly cried to be honest. I loved revisiting all my favorite characters from Maya and Benji to Ana and Ramona and Amat.

Their stories round out the Beartown trilogy with Backman’s unique understanding and compassion for human behavior and what separates us and what has the power to bring us together. In a tiny forest town of Sweden, that something is hockey- a game my husband, my sons and I have loved and fully embraced for years.

I don’t want to give too much away for those who have this on their TBR but the characters and their stories are well rounded out and their futures solidified. Yes it is full of heartbreak. You’ll expect that if you’ve read Beartown and Us Against You. But it’s also brimming with warm and tender moments. Yes, this one’s a chunk of a doorstop, but it’s well worth the time and tissues.

Thank you so much to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the eARC that allowed me to speed through the novel!

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Hands down the best of the Beartown trilogy. By a lot.

A tale of two towns!

How does Backman do it! He’s genius, he’s sneaky—slippery even! The eternal war between Beartown and Hed . The story of lives told through hockey. You wade in with the two towns forced to pick a side, a winner, but you can’t choose. Everyone has a story, everyone’s legitimate
It started with Benji and Maya, Ana and Kevin. It’s now came full circle.
In the beginning we are given clues, “Boys like Benji die young. They die violently.”
Even though I knew it was coming, I just sobbed at the ending. Fredrik Backman you’ve wrung me out! I sobbed for them all. I rejoiced where appropriate. We came for the ride at the beginning, and just hung on through the saga, hung on for everyone’s story. There’s a host of characters remembered, appreciated or not, roles changing as the towns go on, and there’s some new characters with heart.
There’s a new coach who’s brilliant, yet has trouble connecting on an emotional level with her players. Yet she brings what players need. It’s alchemy, and it’s undefined.
Then there’s Matteo, unnoticed and unappreciated. And a new force, Lev the stranger who has a scrapyard outside of Hed. “…He chose to settle down in this forest because the people here are also survivors, and not that much less dangerous than he.”
Forest people in forest towns! The forest—so magnificent! “First and foremost we are forest folk.” The forest is in the background exerting its pressure on the people it surrounds.
Throughout this final to the saga I was buoyed, downcast, angry and sad and then redemption is given in small and large ways, leading to renewal. Such an amazing and heartfelt read!

A Atria Books Invitation ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change

A lot of time has passed since the tragic events of Beartown. Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich have left the village to start a new life somewhere else, the rest of the inhabitants has found a way of either forgetting or ignoring. But now they are threatened by a storm and a fateful series of events brings people home, opens up old wounds and creates new ones. Beartown as its rival village of Hed will never be the same again, they all will have changed and one person’s life especially will be determined by the events of only a very short time.

I have read almost all novels by Fredrik Backman and yet, I am overwhelmed each time and even though I am all but prone to extreme emotion, I can’t help crying while reading his stories. From the first two books settled in the Swedish village of Beartown, I knew what to expect from “The Winners” and was somehow prepared, but nevertheless, the author managed to trigger something in me.

Maybe it is the characters who are the most normal people one can imagine, who have their good and caring sides as well as the others which would much rather be hidden. Maybe it is the setting in an unknown village somewhere in the forest which nobody has ever heard of. It is the maximum of normalcy that we encounter in this trilogy and that makes you feel at home and bond with the characters immediately.

Backman’s masterful foreshadowing gives a glimpse in what is to come, it only hints at the upcoming tragedies and thus raises suspense which keeps you reading on, unable to put the book aside. You know that something really dreadful, horrible is waiting at the end and yet, just like life goes on you continue until you reach that moment where you are hit with a hammer.

I am lacking the words to adequately convey what the novel did to me, to describe the experience of reading and after the last page, of leaving this wonderful story. Backman is an exceptional author and his Beartown series is an exceptional read.

Bachman writes from the outside in and from the inside out; while he is part of the tale he writes as an observer anticipating what will happen as we read on. Tough thing to do. Bachman’s final book in the Beartown series takes up the stories of the characters seamlessly and takes us through the dark and violent as well as the light and human. His character development is skilled. The last part of this book is terribly emotional and wrenching, then he takes us through a series of stories of what happens in the future with each character that are never trite and feel right. Anyone that thinks this book, and the others in the series, are just hockey books set in the rural forrest of northern Sweden, well they are just a lazy reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me with an ARC of The Winners. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

I wanted to LOVE this book but it was way too long and overly written. There were too many subplots that drew me away from the heart of the story and ultimately added no value. Every time I set the book down, I had little interest in picking it back up. Beartown as a standalone would have been enough - in my opinion that book was PERFECTION. While I was happy to reunite with many characters from the first two books and I was pleased to have further closure, I’m still not sure Fredrik Backman did his readers any great service with The Winners. I might be in the minority and hope I am. Backman certainly knows how to pull at the heartstrings and this book had many beautiful moments. A good read but not quite the book I was anticipating.

Title: The Winners
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?

As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?

This book. I was up until 2 a.m. finishing it, if that tells you anything. Beartown took me completely by surprise. I don’t really care about hockey, and small towns usually give me the creeps, but it was my first introduction to Backman’s writing and I was blown away. Us Against You was the same experience, and so was The Winners.

I loved these characters and was completely enthralled by the story. Even the seemingly minor characters are compelling in the hands of a master author like this. He is so, so good at creating believable characters that you care about and feel like you’ve met. I’m not super thrilled by what happened to one of my favorite characters, but I laughed, cried, and was in turn awed by the occasional absolutely perfect sentence that truly captured the moment. Go read this.

Fredrik Backman is a bestselling author. The Winners is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)

I am so grateful to Atria Books for the eARC of The Winners (Beartown book 3). I absolutely love Fredrick Backman’s writing, and I could not wait to be devastated once again by the events in Beartown. The Winners follows many of the characters from the first two books in the series, but Backman introduces some new characters from both Beartown and Hed to really illustrate the interconnections in the story. A look at those who win and those who lose, and how often the difference between them relies on so many small instances of standing up for what is right. I can’t really give an objective review because I loved this book before I read it, but Backman’s writing pulled me right back to a small town in northern Sweden, and I’m so sad that now I have to leave.

In the Winners, Backman brings the Beartown series to a heartwarming and heartwrenching conclusion. The relationship between Beartown and Hed comes to a boiling point over hockey and it shows how quickly actions can be misinterpreted and tempers can rise. However, Backman shows all sides well with his usual touch of humanity, realistic actions, and sense of humor. You'll both laugh and cry as you read along, but in the end you'll be rooting for everyone to achieve what they want and find peace in their situation and future. An excellent, if a bit long, read.

Beartown is the third and final book in the Beartown series. The book takes place two years after the last book, Us Against You. The story is told in the third person plural, symbolizing Beartown as a collective. This book focuses on what happened after a tragic event occurred there.

This book exceeds my expectations. Anxious People was painfully awful to get through, and I have not had the pleasure of reading the other two books in the series, so I went into this book blindly. This book was overly complex and lengthy, but the detail of the writing was captivating. Fredrik Backman wrote the story beautifully in that he brought the small town of Beartown to life. I felt like I was experiencing every moment with them, and that is something that not a lot of authors can do. The vivid imagery was perfect, and I could easily imagine the town and the people. The character development was fantastic. I felt each character's emotions as they were playing out. I also felt the significance of their community. I finally understood and appreciated his writing style after reading this book.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Atria Books for giving me a copy of the book.

When Backman first published Beartown, no one knew that it would turn into a trilogy. In fact, I wonder if he even realized he hadn’t finished telling the story back then. But when the second book came out, I think most of his faithful fans realized that Backman still wasn’t ready to leave these rival towns when we got to the end of the novel. Considering the length of this last book (684 pages in the Kindle edition), apparently Backman had a good deal left to tell.

Now, regular readers of Backman know that he loves to leave breadcrumbs. Usually, that means hints or clues to what could point to one outcome or another (you know, like with a mystery). However, in Backman’s case, he actually likes to leave little tidbits that foreshadow something we will see happen in the book, and in some cases, after the story will probably have ended. To be honest, I don’t usually like foreshadowing in novels, but I forgive Backman because of how he leaves these scraps on the tables. He doesn’t do the classic cliché of “little did he/she know then that…” but rather he says things like “that was the last time” and “as they would do until they grew old together” and things like that. At one point, Backman actually adds a poem that someone would later write about one of the characters. Now, I’m unsure why I accept this in Backman but cringe when I see it done by other writers. Perhaps I’m more forgiving because his bits of foreshadowing are so brief and fit so well inside the narrative, that they don’t stand out like sore thumbs. Maybe I’m more likely to overlook them because Backman gets me so involved in the story. Or maybe, Backman makes me so invested in these characters’ lives that I want to know what will happen to them even before I read how and why it happens.

Either way, yeah… this is one hell of gripping read. Frankly, I was a touch taken aback by some of the fights that took place in this novel. But like your normal car wreck, I couldn’t look away, nor stop myself reading, even when he describes some fairly violent things happening. Of course, if you know anything about hockey, or have read the other two books in this series, you have to expect this to a certain extent. Thankfully, there are so many moments that are tender and even funny here that despite the blood and tragedies, you won’t feel like you’re in the middle of a horror story. However, you might mistake it for a bit of a thriller, especially as you get closer to the end of the novel. You see, together with the breadcrumbs and the foreshadowing, Backman hides just enough from the reader to build suspense, even if we have clearly stated clues to what is going to happen. And the thing is, when you know something is coming, you keep looking for it at every turn. Then, when it does happen – well… BANG! That’s exactly what Backman does here. Doesn’t that sound like a thriller to you?

But it isn’t really a thriller. It is, as Backman is famous for doing, a study in human nature and a story that delves into the many faults and assets that are inside each and every one of us. Backman makes no excuses for their weaknesses, and takes no credit for their strengths, he just puts them on the page, and believes with perfect faith that the latter will be the winner against the former. That is probably why we grow to love (and sometimes hate) his characters. That is also why he can make us laugh out loud and cry like babies. Since I found myself doing both, I cannot help but recommend this novel more highly, especially if you’ve read the other two books, and award it a wholehearted five out of five stars.

The Winners by Fredrik Backman
(Beartown #3)

How could I stay away? My favorite characters are back and I wanted all things to be right with the world. But I knew they wouldn't be because Backman has foreshadowed so much over the three books. Still, I can't look away. I think I can live with there not being another book. That if I stop looking at the lives of these people, maybe they can go on living in some kind of peace.

A death brings Maya and Benji back to Beartown. Both are embraced, both have been missed so much. Neither of them had been doing very well away from Beartown. But they both had to leave for their own reasons and maybe the leaving is what showed them what they were missing when they came home.

Beartown and Hed are still at it but fortunes have changed. Hurts that have been simmering for a very long time are about to to boil over and break our hearts. Some will be punished, others will punish themselves, and those who don't deserve it will pay for the pain caused by others. A whole lot of pain is packed into this story but we also get glimpses of how some things will work out for a few. How the good parts of Beartown might continue, maybe differently than before and helped by those who you'd least expect to make a good difference. It's going to take me a while to work through this story and let my thoughts and feelings settle but I enjoyed the story even if I wish I could stop some of it from happening.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

The third and final installment in the acclaimed (and personally revered) "Beartown" series, "The Winners" is yet another epic novel centering around hockey, yet really being about family, friends, enemies, and who wins or loses in life.

The same characters are back two years after the events of "Us Against You," and the small towns of Beartown and Hed are starting to feel that familiar unrest that comes along with hockey season. A destructive storm and the death of the only universally beloved person in Beartown add enough spark to the fire to immerse everyone into yet another swirling, bottomless well of emotion, blame, and drama.

This time around, we get to see the feud from another perspective, as Backman introduces a family from Hed, comprising of Hannah, Johnny, and their 4 children. They become intertwined with our Beartown stalwarts, and the events that follow are both incredibly inspiring and devastating. Because what would a Beartown novel be without some tragedy?

As usual, I cried for the last 50 pages of the book. I know this is the last book in this series, but I can't help but hope that Backman takes one certain character and creates an entirely new narrative around her.

I'm not a gushy person but I'm ready to change that for this one. I've made it no secret that i'm a big Backman fan. I have read all of his books and re-read Beartown and Us Against You to prep for The Winners (and really I never do re-reads). And honestly this review hasn't been easy to write because can i even do this series justice?

Beartown was supposed to be about a hockey loving small town, and instead it was an incredible book about people, relationships and it was so emotional. Backman has an incredible way of writing, building up so many emotions, making characters come to life. With the Beartown series, one of the things that amazed me the most has been how he has been able to have such a distinct set of characters with separate character arches.

With The Winners, it was incredible to revisit Beartown as the saga concluded. Much like Beartown, it started by hinting at what happens in the end, which means i was weepy from the start of this. It was long and I savored every word. And I had tissues ready, knowing how I would feel by the time it ended. I enjoyed the broader picture it gave to Hed. But what I found myself highlighting the most was parents feelings on their kids growing up. This was also present in the first book, but it tugged at my heartstrings a whole other way this time.

While this book can absolutely be read as a standalone, I love that I had a deeper insight in the relationships and personalities from the previous books. And really, can there ever be too much Backman? I also want to say I'm amazed by the translators work on this! Backman has such a distinct style and Neil Smith has done an incredible job of staying true to it.

Thank you so very much Atria and Backman for the ARC of this one, I loved every word of it!

Kudos to Fredrik Backman!! What an accomplishment; what an amazing achievement!!! I am speechless. There could not have been a more fitting end to this beloved trilogy than what Backman has written.

You'll get no spoilers from me. This book is about two small villages in the forest in Sweden; Beartown and Hed. The villagers are all forest folk and fanatical hockey fans whose clubs mean everything to them. The fierce rivalry between the two teams affects the lives of all who live within their villages. The timeframe is two years after the second book ends. But this atmospheric novel isn't about hockey - it's about people living life with all the ups and downs, calamaties, and unexpected blessings it brings. It's about emotions - all the raw and vivid emotions that a person can feel: love, indifference, hate, anger, rage, calm, happy, sad, grieving, hopeful, lost, excitement, fear, admiration, longing, anguish, joy, belonging, friendship, accomplishment, betrayal, disappointment, etc. etc. etc. It's about our humanness among humanity.

Backman is what I call a quiet story teller. He's not showy, or in your face, he just gently shares his stories, letting you absorb all the nuances and foretellings of things to come that he lays before you. A keen observer and gifted expresser, his characters and situations are believable because they are complex, and he takes the time to show us a layer here, a layer there, until we understand both the good and bad sides of each of them. We see how the pieces all fit together, and how the events come to happen as they do. We readers can't help but feel we know these people, this forest, these villages, caring about them and feeling their emotions too.

I loved this series! I shall miss the forest and the villagers, and I am forever grateful to Backman for creating them, and letting me live amongst them!

My thanks to Atria Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel via NetGalley. It is scheduled for publication on 9/27/22. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

The Winners is an epic and devastatingly beautiful conclusion to the Beartown series. It’s a story filled with beloved characters, community, and reminds us of our interconnected nature, especially in the face of tragedy. Backman’s ability to tap into the human condition—every aspect, both good and bad—is simply unmatched.

It would be misleading to label this a “light read” as Backman’s foreboding tone weighs heavily on the reader throughout the book’s entirety. But his command of literary devices and writing style keeps you enthralled. It tears your heart out, compels you, and unapologetically takes you along an intensely emotional journey. Personally, I savored this read, and always consciously battled wanting to turn the next page in a marathon reading session because the writing is that poignant and beautiful.

Perhaps the joy of this book stems most from the characters themselves and how each of them, in their own elaborate yet consumable way, powerfully drives the narrative. I also really enjoyed the amount of time spent on the politics of the town, and the in-depth examination of the corruption and cover-ups that have kept Beartown hockey alive, which was a unique aspect of this book when compared to the rest of the series. My only critique (as it would be disingenuous not to share one) is I wish we had a bit more time with characters like Benji, Alicia, Sune, and the Ovich sisters.

In the end, this book stayed with me long after it ended. Closure achieved. Would I recommend it? Insert a resounding 100% yes here!