A fitting end to this trilogy. In retrospect, Beartown probably should have been a standalone novel since its incredibly strong story becomes a bit diluted through the ensuing sequels. However, the fallout to that book's events are nearly as interesting to follow and I relished spending two more books with these characters as well as the complicated dynamics between the two towns. Backman leans on foreshadowing a bit too often and there is an ongoing storyline with tragic results that would have been much more impactful if the book had been shorter; with everything else going on, it was somewhat of a jolt to occasionally return to it. Despite those minor quibbles, this is a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoyed the first two books of the series with a definitive ending for all involved.

HIGHLY recommend. I thoroughly enjoyed Beartown, but Us Against You a little less. This final novel in the story of Beartown is exceptional. I was riveted to the final stories of the citizens of Hed and Beartown, and how the lives of the central characters had spiraled away and then back to the Forest in Sweden through the years since the initial story.

I loved Beartown and although I really enjoyed Us Against You, I didn't think the story needed to continue. The Winners was more like the second book, adding more characters with more tragic stories. I like it when a book breaks my heart, but to do so with book after book in a series, it was a little too much for me. By the time I read The Winners, I think I was over the series but I was hoping to get more happy endings for the characters. It went down a road of tragedy that I didn't expect and left me even more sad that the first book.

With that said, Backman is a prolific storyteller that is unrivaled by few globally known writers, in my opinion. I was engrossed in Beartown again with this story and it's such a unique experience to get the feel for a setting and the characters like Backman does in this book. He added more depth to his characters than he had already developed in the other two books and I felt like I knew them.

Perhaps I wasn't in the headspace of receiving this book as positively as I'd hoped. I think fans of the first two books will love this book.

⚠️: rape, addiction, death of a loved one, industrial accident, homophobia, death of a dog, self harm, suicidal thoughts, overdose, murder, gun violence & shooting, mention of: fatal car accident, child abuse & neglect, and infidelity

This. This was my most anticipated release of the entire year. I am so grateful for this ARC!
I don’t even know where to begin.
First, this book is LONG. There are so many new characters in the first 20-30% that it felt slow and I was worried I was about to be disappointed in the finale to my favorite trilogy.
Second, I shouldn’t doubt Backman. He’s going to get us where we need to go and drag out all the feelings on the way. This is both heart breaking and inspiring. Hard lessons in grief and loss. The expectations we carry from ourselves and others. The bonding together and ripping apart that happens in a small town rivalry. I feel like it’s hard to go into too much detail without spoiling the journey.
Third, was this the perfect ending for Beartown? Yes, and also no. Did it feel too heartbreaking and emotional at times? Yes. Did part of me want a sunshine and rainbows happy ending? Also, yes, a little. Did it feel like the only ending in some ways? Yes. If you know and love all things Backman like I do, you know it’s not all about the ending but the journey. We saw so much heart break, questioning of values, crushing grief, and violence. We also saw unconditional love, support when it’s needed most, taking a leap of faith, and trust.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again. Fredrik Backman is a MASTER at writing human emotion. It’s so real and relatable. It’s things we all experience and sometimes don’t have the words to explain.

The end of the book description says it best: “As it beautifully captures all the complexities of daily life and explores questions of friendship, loyalty, loss, and identity, this emotion-packed novel asks us to reconsider what it means to win, what it means to lose, and what it means to forgive.”

There is so much I could say about this book which is evidenced by the many sections I have highlighted. Fredrick Backman has a unique way of telling a story, he tells you exactly what is going to happen, but somehow you never see it coming. I cried all the way through this story and never wanted it to end. I hope you pick it up read it and pass it on. It is a story that is going to stick with me for a long time to come. Well done Mr. Backman! Well done!

The Winners is book 3 of the Beartown Trilogy, and what a fitting end it is. The Beartown Trilogy takes its rightful and permanent place on my all-time Top 10 best-books-ever-read list.

I could write a 20-page review for this novel and its two companion books, but I will keep this short. Fredrik Backman has earned a place in my heart as my favorite author. I have loved all his novels and novellas, but the Beartown Trilogy is his crown jewel. I have never read another author who has such a grasp on the human spirit, who is able to tell a story of common people in such a powerful way, who can create characters whom a reader will never ever forget. These books are quiet books, yet they made a sledge-hammer-like impression on this reader.

The themes are vast and include violence, corruption, revenge, hate, death, healing, integrity, redemption, survival, and love. And through these themes the author evokes a rainbow of feelings in his readers, not the least of which is heartbreak. I became so invested in these true-to-life characters that I found myself reacting to them as if they were my own best friends. I felt grief-stricken many times throughout my reading of The Winners, yet I didn’t want the book to end. I felt I could not say goodbye forever to these people of Beartown and Hed, and I feel I will not, as they have given me much to think about over the rest of my life.

Where will Mr. Backman go from here? Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but there are words at the end of the novel that make me wonder if there will be a book about Alicia’s subsequent life. If so, I’m all in. Wait. Who am I kidding? I am all in on whatever novel Mr. Backman writes next. I just hope we don’t have to wait long.

I would like to thank Net Galley, Atria Books, and Fredrik Backman for granting me an ARC of The Winners. My opinions are my own, and they are not biased in any way.

This was both a heartbreaking and uplifting conclusion to the Beartown trilogy, and definitely satisfying. While one could read it on its own, it's so much better as the third novel, and Backman does a great job reminding us of past events. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reading copy of The Winners by Fredrik Backman. The Winners is the conclusion to the Beartown series.
Pros: My favorite quote in the book is "The problem with both hockey and life is that simple moments are rare." If you have read the first two this book is a must read to see what happens between Hed and Beartown. Backman does a great job capturing the human spirit. The book did a great job in wrapping of the stories of these two towns.
Cons; I felt like the book was a little long.

The Winners, Fredrick Backman
I have always loved reading books by this author because of his final message which is always filled with hope, in spite of the tricks life often plays on us. This one, however, gave me doubts about whether or not that would happen, since it brought me to such height and depths of emotion, that reading it, I found I thought I might lose hope. How could such needless tragedy take place again and again? This book felt almost too close to reality, at times. For isn’t that the source of the stress we experience daily, the constant occurrence of unexplained, unnecessary, unwanted fury and violence for which we seem always unprepared and surprised? Backman does pull hope from the jaws of despair, finally, and that is what saved the book for me.
It took me a long time to read this novel because I kept anticipating that something bad was going to happen and after reading the first two books, these characters had become family. I did not want to feel the pain of their sorrows with such immediacy, and with such force as Backman packs very strong feelings into each sentence and description. The scenes seemed so real and full of the emotions the characters were feeling, that I identified with each of their traumas and joys. Each of their problems became my own to solve. In this book, I did not get an equal amount of the hopefulness, I felt in the others, at first. This one played out more intensity, until the end.
So many of the characters were motivated by pure vengeance and the quest for power, without thinking through the reasons or consequences of their actions beforehand. This resulted in so much unnecessary destruction, threats, wasted lives, and negative behavior. In the other books, I always felt that there was an equal or better force fighting the forces of evil in his previous books, but in this book, the forces of evil won so often, that the brutality was palpable, building the tension within me to almost unbearable levels. Was this a representation of our real world? Are we really so thoughtless when it comes to how we treat each other? Are we really so self-interested that we will sacrifice each other to save our own face or something material, something far more meaningless than a life? I was left wondering if Tails act of sacrifice, at the end, was enough, was appropriate, was even moral? Did it mean he had learned to respect the rules and the people above his own needs, but what about the others? Did it mean he was still motivated by the need to save the town, regardless of the cost, regardless of the means to the end or to save a good person and repent for his own misdeeds? Oh yes, Backman has truly captured Sir Walter Scott’s tangled web that we weave, when first we practice to deceive, in this series of books.
The pettiness, immaturity, lying and cheating, adults acting like children, motivated by vengeance, the arrogance and the bullying, the thugs vs the good guys in conflict constantly, the search for someone to hurt or blame, even in the cause of justice seemed cruel, not fair, and all of these emotions and feelings that are deep within each of us is captured by this author. He seems to understand every minute emotional moment perfectly. The book is hypnotic, so you will be compelled to keep reading. Every single word has power. Every human condition will appear at some time and be analyzed for what it really is and what it really means to us. Race, gender, the media, sports, the environment, sex, poverty, fear, shame, guilt, wealth, power, hope, hopelessness, crime, all subjects are fair game as the motivations for actions are deconstructed. Nothing and no one is portrayed as perfect. In the recurrent themes and the bang, bang, bang of the hockey puck, their flaws are exposed, but still, even the worst of the characters is redeemable, as each has some good within them, no matter how bad they seem. I suppose that is the hopefulness at the end of the book, even though it felt overshadowed by so much pain, from natural and unnatural causes.
Hed and Beartown will continue to feud, as real cities continue to have problems, but they will, like all cities and people, repair their damage and move on, as life, too, must go on. This book is not really about hockey, it is about people, real life, friendship, love, how we live, how we die, who we are and who we are not, how we cope and how we don’t, how we respond and how we repent. The yin and the yang are on every page as Backman gives his story life, and as he gives it breath. Each individual character becomes less important than the whole, and it is the survival of the whole that we fight for, in the end. In that purpose is our hope.

I wanted to love this as much as I love the previous two in the series but this felt winding and unfocused, although the writing is still very beautiful. It was hard to hold on to my love of the characters in this case.

if you’ve ever asked me for a book recommendation, you know the first thing I’ll suggest is BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman, so when I heard that there was a THIRD book in the series I knew I had to get my hands on it ASAP!

huge thank you to Atria Books for the early copy 😊🙏🏼

Backman could write his grocery list and I would give it 5 stars. he’s just THAT GOOD! so no surprise I’m also giving this book and this entire series 5 huge stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE WINNERS takes us on the final journey for the residents of Beartown (and the neighboring town, Hed). as predicted, there’s hockey, love, grief, characters who learn more about themselves, characters who lose parts of themselves, and a town who will always back each other up no matter what. what makes me love Backman’s writing so much is the rhythm in which he tells a story and how much detail he puts into his characters. I finished this book last month and truly couldn’t even find the words to write a review because of how much I was still thinking about everything that has happened to my “friends” in Beartown since I first picked up the first book.

if you S T I L L haven’t picked up this series, please please please do 🙏🏼 the third and final book, THE WINNERS, comes out Sept 27 in the USA ‼️

I thought the stories of my favourite characters had been completed in Us Against You. But wait there’s more, author Fredrik Backman has brought them back for one more emotional roller coaster of a story.

Beartown and Hed are two neighbouring towns in Sweden where hockey rules the lives of their citizens. Everything revolves around the support of their team - and those who support the other team are the enemy. Take their hockey away, or give them reason to think that their team is being treated unfairly when compared to the other and you get not just resentment but seething hatred. The rivalry between the towns of Hed and Beartown is not friendly banter between obsessive fans, it is deadly.

The Winners opens as a huge storm hits the part of Sweden where the two towns are located. It is horrendous, scary, and results in massive damage. And then, during the storm, there is a death. A death which draws those characters who have left the area back for the funeral. And after the funeral, a chain reaction of misunderstandings begin that culminates in a shocking act of violence resulting in… well, you’ll just have to read it.

Hed’s ice hockey stadium is destroyed, and the Hed teams are told they have to use the Beartown stadium for training. The roads leading to Beartown are given priority for clearing the fallen trees. In Hed tempers start to rise, the unfairness of it all lights the already short fuses. There is one horrendous scene when the two teams of thirteen-year-olds meet at Beartown for a competition and the children are terrified by the heckling and the out and out violence that erupts. So much hate between the two communities.

Is the answer to close both clubs and start a new combined club? Or will the threat of losing their individual identities finally bring down the unbreakable violent rivalry and create a united front to save their communities?

“…It’s a beautiful evening, the stars are bright and snow is falling, the ice is in his nostrils and crunching beneath his shoes. He loves this place, no one would believe that if they heard it, of course, but he’s traveled all around half the world and still hasn’t seen anywhere like this. The forest and the lake, the wilderness and snow, it’s unbeatable. He isn’t surprised that this town drives people to violence, it could have driven him to violence too if he thought someone was trying to take it away from him. That’s the insight that’s going to help him solve everyone’s problems. That’s how he’s going to win…”

In the background of the story old issues return, poverty and the struggle to survive, sexual abuse, child abuse, marriage difficulties, tragedy, loss, love, violence, drugs and alcoholism, all elements found in almost any community around the world. It is about good people doing bad things, and bad people changing tack and doing good. It is about good people willing to do wrong, or lie, to make things right. It is about friendship against all odds. Then there are the political and business machinations, again the same anywhere in the world, money laundering, corruption, and criminal actions to cover up wrong doings. So much going on that I despaired at times that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.

In his acknowledgment Fredrik Backman wrote: “…Finally: to you who have read the whole of this saga, I’d just like to say that I hope it gave you something, because I gave it absolutely everything I had. Thank you for coming along for the ride…” Well you did Mr Backman - your “everything” was my exhilarating, emotional ride - thank you for writing it and giving me an ending to the saga I didn’t know I needed.

The Winners is a great conclusion to the Beartown series. This book brings conclusion to many of the characters we met in the first book while also introducing us to some new ones. I have loved this whole series, however,I felt this book was a bit too long. If you love the first two books, you will want to be sure to read this last one.

The only thing bad about this book is that it ends my journey with Beartown! What a fitting ending. I was so nervous to read it--I read a different review that said Benji wasn't in it for a long time (absurd--he's on the first two pages which will slay you) and that there were too many new characters. Ummm . . . new characters in this series who you will also LOVE so what is the problem? What Backman has done so well is that he has built out his universe. He doesn't just stay in the same spot--he adds the concentric layers that show how the characters grow and connect and how the small individuals we met in high school have influence on the community and the world. Although you will grieve the ending that Backman warned us about for so long, you will feel the ache of promise and the gift of connection and most importantly, the hope that continues in the footsteps of loss. I will carry this series with me for a long time.

**I was excited to receive a complimentary copy of The Winners by Fredrik Backman from NetGalley. Opinions in this review are completely my own.**

Contains spoilers!

I read Beartown and Us Against You a couple of years ago and LOVED them both. I had been waiting for the end for this story. This book did not disappoint. This book continued the storylines of Maya, Ana, Amat, Benji, and other favourite characters that I met in the first two books, and we also met new characters like Mumble and Big City. Backman does a great job of developing his characters and making them likeable. Even the characters that have a darker side had redeeming qualities, like Mumble, Teemu, and Lev. His characters are well rounded and have so much going on under the surface that they become real to you.

As well, The Winners has so many ideas and themes that leave you thinking long after the novel is done. For instance, I loved the idea that our inner child walks with us. This often has such an affect on who we are now, that the image of Backman describes really hit home. "The two young woment trample over the memories and two invisible little girls pad after them. Because they're always walking behind us: the children we were before the worst that has happened happened." I've been doing a lot of therapy the last couple of years to heal my inner child so I can feel worthy and enough in my life now. As well, he talks about childhood and how "We take happiness so easily for granted if we've had it from the start." There is definitely things that we learn in childhood and then continue them through our lives, passing them on to our children: traditions, relationship patterns, and ways of living. Throughout the novel, there is a running theme of belonging, the us vs. them mentality between Hed and Beartown. You can see how not belonging to something affects different characters. Lev is trying to fit into Hed and wants to make a better life for his immigrant family, Matteo wants to belong and have friends, Big City and Mumble start to feel that sense of team as a part of Beartown Hockey, and Benji is struggling with being gay. Backman says: "The biggest thing you can have is being part of something." In my experience as a teacher, every child wants to fit in. The picture he painted of children who don't broke my heart: "That's why it hurts to be a different child. The one whose name no one remembers when they look back at school photographs because that child was never part of anyone else's childhood except their own. It's so cold being outside other people that you freeze to death all by yourself." It can be so lonely when you don't fit in. Matteo feels that with his classmates, the people in town, and his family. After his one salvation, his sister, is gone, he becomes untethered. It is not hard to see how this plays out but it is heartbreaking. He also alludes to how we as society can view the "other" as different. How the worst things can be believed and possibly even generalized due to some "story we've heard from someone who heard it from someone else."

I would love to see this series made into a TV show or movie. I love this story, I love these characters, and I will definitely recommend it.

Fredrik Backman is a master storyteller and the Winners is proof. I devoured the first two Beartown books, recommending them to everyone. I was so excited to hear the third book was out and lucky to be able to get it on Netgalley for an honest review. While it has been some time since I read the second book, the characters came back to me like old friends with some slight back history from Backman. This book picks up where the others left off and complete our journey with the characters we love as well as adding some along the way. While this book is much longer than I usually read, well over 600 pages, I was engrossed every time I picked up my kindle.

This series should be in every high school library across the world. However it is great for adults as well.

I will greatly miss the characters and story line. I am sad to see our journey over.

FIRST OF ALL: Definitely don’t read this book a couple of weeks after your dog dies. (I trusted you, Fredrik)

We meet a lot of new people, which I guess surprised me. I loved them all though.

The goodbyes broke my heart, BUT ALSO, Zacharias wasn't even mentioned and I would've memorized everything if I knew he would already be off being famous! (I might have known. But I don't remember a finality of "ok, he's gone now. That doesn't mean it didn't happen)

I re-read the first two before reading this, so had all 3 right in a row. Apparently because I love crying. But this one didn't feel like a Beartown book for a long time. I think maybe the AR digital reader just doesn't have the same breaks, which is possibly part of the reason his books crush me.

ANYWAY read this book, of course. FB can do no wrong, and I'll fight you if you disagree.

(Seriously- in Us Against You,I have never in my life cried harder in any book than I did when I read the phrase “he didn’t have a team. So they gave him an army”)

(I’m still not ready to talk about it.)

#netgalley #fredrikbackman #thewinners #beartown

All I could think about while trying to write this review was a quote from the book that encapsulates my feelings quite well:

“Words?

This hurts too much.”

And it did. The third and final installment of the Beartown series left me puffy eyed, runny nosed, and heartbroken, but it also left me with a glimmer of hope.

The Winners picks up two years after Us Against You takes place, planting us right back in Beartown and Hed. While the series, with The Winners being no different, centers around hockey, it’s so much more than that. It’s a deep look at human nature, at relationship, community, and family.

I’ve seen Backman say he gave The Winners everything he’s got, and that is evident page after page. This, for me, was his best work yet. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I groaned, and I wept, leaving me heartbroken at how it ended, but even more so that it was over.

Backman’s greatest strength is the way he weaves characters together chapter after chapter, ultimately bringing them together in beautifully bonded ways in the end. And that was my favorite aspect of The Winners.

I loved the introduction of the newest characters Hannah, Johnny, and their whole family, and the way he wove them into the story. But it was also refreshing to catch up with old favorites like Benji, Amat, Ramona, Bobo, Ana, and Peter.

While not a lot time passes over the span of the book, so much happens that kept me digitally turning over pages, unable to get through them fast enough.

This was a perfect read for me. It wrecked me in all the best ways. So Backman has done it, once again. But it’s safe to say that I’ll miss my Beartown family and will have to revisit the series again upon The Winners’ publication this October!

Thank you, Atria Books & NetGalley, for my advanced copy of my most anticipated book of the year. All opinions are my own.

The Winners is the conclusion to the complex story of friendship and loyalty in the small hockey towns of Beartown and Hed. The story blends the daily routines of the characters with their psychological backgrounds and needs. As the town comes together for the funeral of the much loved Ramona, Maya and Benji return to face their pasts. An investigation into the hockey club’s finances creates tension for Peter and Kira. Violence between the town escalates. In the background lurks a new character, Matteo, longing to justify his sister’s death.
In the end, friendship means everything in this emotional story of winning and loss. I loved this whole series especially the well developed and complex characters.

3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about The Winners, Fredrick Backman's conclusion to the Beartown trilogy. On the one hand, I enjoyed the closure in knowing where life ultimately takes those we met in the first book. It's also beautifully written with complex characters and a vivid setting. I almost believe there really is a Beartown somewhere out there with a Maya, Ana, Amat, Bobo, Benji, and all the others I have grown to care for.

On the other hand, the book was much too long and slow for me. There's a side-story that I found unnecessary as it took the focus away from the main plot and never really went anywhere. If 1/3 of the book had been cut, I think I would have enjoyed it much more.

Like the other books in the series, The Winners kind of rips your heart out at times. It tackles very real and important issues with sensitivity and compassion...I just wish those issues had remained the focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.