“Never trust people who don’t have something in their lives that they love beyond all reason.”⁣
⁣
It’s a quote from Beartown, the first book in Fredrik Backman’s trilogy about a hockey town and its inhabitants.
⁣
I love this town. I love these characters. I feel their heartbreaks, and I feel their wins. Backman is an expert at writing characters who never feel fictional. For the third book, he could have written Amat and Benji’s name over and over and over again for the 700 pages, and I would give it 5 stars because the love I have for them is irrational.⁣
⁣
But the story gave me more than I could have imagined up until the very end, which felt fitting and provided enough closure that I’m not going to start a petition for a fourth book (even though I’d definitely read one).⁣
⁣
So many moments in this third book – good and bad – destroyed me and will stay with me forever.

Backman just has this way of writing that reaches into my mind and repeats back to me the thoughts I've been thinking but too afraid to articulate. I love this series- and I say this as a non-series reader. I'm glad the book the way opened it did, to prepare us. Beartown forever.

Fredrik Backman wraps up his big-hearted emotional Beartown series in The Winners. So much has happened to the people of Beartown, from the first book to the last. Tragedy after tragedy is a recurring theme with humor and heartfelt themes of friendship, family, and community, as Fredrik Backman captures the complexities of human behavior and connections. His writing is simple and uncomplicated yet compelling as he explores loyalty, loss, group thinking, competition, rivals, regrets, missed opportunities, and themes for social change, toxic masculinity, sexual assault, and homophobia. He uses foreboding and chapter cliffhangers that had me reading just one more chapter.

The story’s heart is the characters who are easy to fall in love with, cheer on and even yell at. It is a joy to see them grow over the events in the books.

The Winners is one long book at almost 700 pages, with a lot going on for one book. The story begins with a storm two years after Us Against You and takes place in two weeks. It took me longer to read it. Fredrik Backman takes his time getting to the meat of the story while giving us some insight into past events and characters. In each thread of the large cast of characters, we see bits and pieces of them, and when they are mentioned again, I had to think about who they were. I liked the foreboding messages; however, they are repeated a little too often, making me frustrated and taking away from the tension and tragedy that was driving the story forward. However, this did not take away from how much I loved this series and its characters. Even though it’s time to say goodbye to these characters, I will miss them.

While this one is not perfect, you have to appreciate that Backman has put so much love and passion into his stories and characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

I can't get enough of this series. I was excited to pick up Us Against You again to revisit the events of that book in order to have a better reference point for this book. Rereading any of the books in this series is a welcomed activity for me.

Once again, Backman packs a punch after punch with the profound statements disguised as simple sentences. Again and again, I wanted to stop and highlight the sentence in order revisit it again later or put it on my bulletin board as an inspired quote.

The characters are all there, plus a few new ones we didn't know in the first books. They are simple and yet undeniably complex. There was so much in this book and it was a wonderful way to complete the series.

In my eyes, Fredrik Backman can do no wrong. I love his writing and I love his books. Let me start by saying that I do not love hockey. You do not need to like hockey to read this trilogy. It will tear your heart out with its beauty and raw emotion.

In this epic conclusion to the Beartown trilogy, it is two years later. The peace the characters find at the end of the last book is short-lived.

The book starts with a storm which is the perfect way to foreshadow the upheaval of the lives of everyone in this book. There is a little bit of everything in this book from corruption and pain to rape and abuse (content warning). It is a conclusion worth waiting for.

I have read everything Backman has wrote, but the Beartown series is by far my favorite. Beartown and Us Against You were 5 star reads so this was a highly anticipated book. Here is where I have to say that The Winners unfortunately was repetitive and coming in at about 700 pages that made for a long book.
That being said I did love spending time with these amazing characters once again. Backman has a way of making them come alive and I've become invested in their stories. In true Backman form my heart was shattered yet again. Farewell Beartown.

The Winners tore me apart from the inside out. I "ugly cried" at the end and had a headache for the rest of the day. I grieved with Beartown and felt like I too had lost a treasured friend and kind spirited soul. This series is a must read for everyone. I cannot believe the plethora of emotions I felt, from happiness to sadness, anger to pride, and joy to disgrace. My heart has been ripped apart, but given hope for a better tomorrow. I do not know how I will choose what to read next for it will most likely not compare. The Winners is an amazing ending to a trilogy worth its weight in gold.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Format: Audio/Physical

5🌟 - I loved it!

Gosh this series 😭😭😭! I have loved it so much, and I’m so sad it’s over.

Immersive, propulsive, and emotional, there is so much I love about this series! It’s character-driven, has coming-of-age themes, handles complex issues, and has superb writing.

There’s so much heart from this small town. The way the characters developed was done perfectly. There were so many touching moments and so many heartbreaking and difficult moments to read.

This felt like the perfect ending to round out the series even if it made me emo 😭.

I highly recommend this series on audio done by the incredible @marinireland!

Fredrick Backman does it again. Although this third instalment of the bear town series drove me a bit batty in the beginning and took longer to have me hooked, he always gets me right in the feels at the end. This series is so important and so relatable as a Canadian, especially considering the current Hockey Canada scandal. We need more stories like these that illustrate the far reaching multi generational impacts of such heinous acts we too often turn a blind eye to. I loved this series and if this is the final instalment it is fitting as such.

Many thanks for Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy.

Fredrick Backman does it again! The Winners was just as magical but heartbreaking as the rest of the Beartown series. I will miss this place and these people and the feeling that they are my family. FB is for sure one of my top authors and I can't wait to see what is next. Highly recommend this series!

In transparency, I have not read the other 2 books but I would like to read them in the future. Does that mean this is not a stand alone, I think it is ok but reading the other two I may have more depth of what the town, people, the game of hockey were really battling. I think their story is our story. In our realm of the world of family, work, politics, and relationships. Fredrik has a gift of having unique characters. They are over "actors" to drive a point, a division, a commonality, a love of family. And ultimately in death, what are eyes are open to. I thought more about the title and how it related to the stories of Beartown. It answers the question, what makes a winner.

A special thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I loved this book so much. I'm so upset the series is over but this was such a perfect, heartbreaking ending. I already miss the characters.

a nice conclusion to the Beartown trilogy. This one takes place two years later with Mya in college, Benji trying to find his way home, Amat making something of himself, and Ana recovering from Vadar's death. New characters are introduced and seamlessly fit in; death takes place and brings two communities together.

Wonderful trilogy with well drawn characters and a well timed plot. Some repetitive phrasing throughout the series, but probably because I read them in a row.

And so The Beartown series comes to a close. While The Winners was a very long book, perhaps too long, it wrapped up the series in the best way possible. Backman has such a way of writing. Only he can put words to what we all feel as humans. Even the most mundane subjects become profound with Backman’s prose. I wept while reading this one. Simply out, he can make me feel like no other author can. An absolutely beautiful end to the series.

“…hopelessly simple but horribly complicated. Ordinary, unusual people. Unusually ordinary people. We just try to live our lives, live with each other, live with ourselves. Accepting joy when we find it, bearing grief when it finds us, and being amazed at our children’s happiness without falling apart when we think that we can never really protect them.”

Like most fans of Beartown by Fredrik Backman, I was both ecstatic to return to the characters while sad for the series to end. The Winners begins with a blizzard that engenders both destruction and resilience. In its wake, Maya and Benji return, only to find that the competition between Hed and Beartown, dormant for two years, has reached a boiling point. Rooting for hockey gives most residents a raison d'etre but a young man, mired in grief and anger, turns against the community in which he feels invisible.

The fate of one beloved character is telegraphed in the first book, so part of me was on guard, waiting for the inevitable pain. Once I started crying, I didn’t stop! I think if I hadn’t been so devastated, I would have been able to better appreciate the ending. I underlined so many passages that I loved. At the same time, I thought the book had repetition that could have been edited to make it more concise.

Reading the trilogy is transformative. Who would think a series about hockey could say so much about love, relationships, and communities!

This is a beautiful, emotional addition to the trilogy. Backman's writing style is unique, it's as if someone is casually telling you a story. He does a great job of summing up the action in the previous two books, for those of us with less than stellar memories! I enjoyed all the characters and their adventures. I highly recommend this series.

If you're a fan of the Beartown series, it's definitely worth the read. However, as much as I love Backman and his writing style...this one is just way too long. I slogged through it in the middle. Also, if it's been awhile since you've read the first two, I don't think you need to go back and reread them (I didn't) unless you want to. There is quite a bit of recap at the beginning. Overall a good end to the series, just too long.

Over the past few years, Backman has been one of my very favorite authors. His use of language (even as he is translated from Swedish) and commentary on the human condition is unparalleled. Beartown was one of three books to ever make me cry (I ugly sobbed on an airplane). In comparison, I found Us Against You to be a bit of a letdown, though still greater than most books. The Winners was my second favorite of the series, falling behind Beartown but ahead of Us Against You. The characters are incredibly well developed and sympathetic, but it’s not plot-driven. Regardless, The Winners finished out the series with satisfying and heart-breaking resolution. It took me a couple of weeks to finish this one because I had to keep setting it down so that I didn’t get too sad— Backman breaks my heart like no one else.

I'm so sad this series is over! Backman has this way of writing that pulls you in and makes you fall in love with the characters. This was was definitely longer than the previous two in the series, but it didn't seem longer.

Be prepared to feel things while reading through this one.