book review beartown

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New York Times Bestseller

by Fredrik Backman ; translated by Neil Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2017

A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman’s latest will resonate a long time.

In Beartown, where the people are as "tough as the forest, as hard as the ice," the star player on the beloved hockey team is accused of rape, and the town turns upon itself.

Swedish novelist Backman’s ( A Man Called Ove , 2014, etc.) story quickly becomes a rich exploration of the culture of hockey, a sport whose acolytes see it as a violent liturgy on ice. Beartown explodes after rape charges are brought against the talented Kevin, son of privilege and influence, who's nearly untouchable because of his transcendent talent. The victim is Maya, the teenage daughter of the hockey club’s much-admired general manager, Peter, another Beartown golden boy, a hockey star who made it to the NHL. Peter was lured home to bring winning hockey back to Beartown. Now, after years of despair, the local club is on the cusp of a championship, but not without Kevin. Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic. Despite his love for hockey, where fights are part of the game, Peter hates violence. Kira, his wife, is an attorney with an aggressive, take-no-prisoners demeanor. Minor characters include Sune, "the man who has been coach of Beartown's A-team since Peter was a boy," whom the sponsors now want fired. There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor: the club president’s table manners are so crude "you can’t help wondering if he’s actually misunderstood the whole concept of eating." Like Friday Night Lights , this is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction.

Pub Date: April 25, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5011-6076-9

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017

LITERARY FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Fredrik Backman translated by Neil Smith

by Fredrik Backman

by Fredrik Backman ; translated by Neil Smith

More About This Book

BOOK TO SCREEN

THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD

by Claire Lombardo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019

Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet...

Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt.

Newcomer Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale of an unapologetically bougie couple and their unruly daughters. In the opening scene, Liza Sorenson, daughter No. 3, flirts with a groomsman at her sister’s wedding. “There’s four of you?” he asked. “What’s that like?” Her retort: “It’s a vast hormonal hellscape. A marathon of instability and hair products.” Thus begins a story bristling with a particular kind of female intel. When Wendy, the oldest, sets her sights on a mate, she “made sure she left her mark throughout his house—soy milk in the fridge, box of tampons under the sink, surreptitious spritzes of her Bulgari musk on the sheets.” Turbulent Wendy is the novel’s best character, exuding a delectable bratty-ness. The parents—Marilyn, all pluck and busy optimism, and David, a genial family doctor—strike their offspring as impossibly happy. Lombardo levels this vision by interspersing chapters of the Sorenson parents’ early lean times with chapters about their daughters’ wobbly forays into adulthood. The central story unfurls over a single event-choked year, begun by Wendy, who unlatches a closed adoption and springs on her family the boy her stuffy married sister, Violet, gave away 15 years earlier. (The sisters improbably kept David and Marilyn clueless with a phony study-abroad scheme.) Into this churn, Lombardo adds cancer, infidelity, a heart attack, another unplanned pregnancy, a stillbirth, and an office crush for David. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Grace perpetrates a whopper, and “every day the lie was growing like mold, furring her judgment.” The writing here is silky, if occasionally overwrought. Still, the deft touches—a neighborhood fundraiser for a Little Free Library, a Twilight character as erotic touchstone—delight. The class calibrations are divine even as the utter apolitical whiteness of the Sorenson world becomes hard to fathom.

Pub Date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-385-54425-2

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019

LITERARY FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

SEEN & HEARD

HOUSE OF LEAVES

by Mark Z. Danielewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2000

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and...

An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted-house tale.

Texts within texts, preceded by intriguing introductory material and followed by 150 pages of appendices and related "documents" and photographs, tell the story of a mysterious old house in a Virginia suburb inhabited by esteemed photographer-filmmaker Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green (an ex-fashion model), and their young children Daisy and Chad.  The record of their experiences therein is preserved in Will's film The Davidson Record - which is the subject of an unpublished manuscript left behind by a (possibly insane) old man, Frank Zampano - which falls into the possession of Johnny Truant, a drifter who has survived an abusive childhood and the perverse possessiveness of his mad mother (who is institutionalized).  As Johnny reads Zampano's manuscript, he adds his own (autobiographical) annotations to the scholarly ones that already adorn and clutter the text (a trick perhaps influenced by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ) - and begins experiencing panic attacks and episodes of disorientation that echo with ominous precision the content of Davidson's film (their house's interior proves, "impossibly," to be larger than its exterior; previously unnoticed doors and corridors extend inward inexplicably, and swallow up or traumatize all who dare to "explore" their recesses).  Danielewski skillfully manipulates the reader's expectations and fears, employing ingeniously skewed typography, and throwing out hints that the house's apparent malevolence may be related to the history of the Jamestown colony, or to Davidson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a dying Vietnamese child stalked by a waiting vulture.  Or, as "some critics [have suggested,] the house's mutations reflect the psychology of anyone who enters it."

Pub Date: March 6, 2000

ISBN: 0-375-70376-4

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2000

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by Mark Z. Danielewski

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Reviews of Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

by Fredrik Backman

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• Literary Fiction
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About this Book

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Book Summary

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream - and the price required to make it come true.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

This is the story of how we got there.

Beartown 2 Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.

It's a Friday in early March in Beartown and nothing has happened yet. Everyone is waiting. Tomorrow, the Beartown Ice Hockey Club's junior team is playing in the semifinal of the biggest youth tournament in the country. How important can something like that be? In most places, not so important, of course. But Beartown isn't most places. Bang. Bang. Bang-bang-bang. The town wakes early, like it does every day; small towns need a head start if they're going to have any chance in the world. The rows of cars in the parking lot outside the factory are already covered with snow; people are standing in silent lines with their eyes half-open and their minds half-closed, waiting for their ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Introduction Beartown is a small community on the brink of disappearing into the surrounding forest as the town loses more and more young people and commerce to the larger surrounding towns. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, home of the hockey club that has long been the sole source of entertainment and pride for the townspeople, and the only possible ticket out of town for the young men who grew up playing hockey there. Now, the seventeen-year-old boys who make up Beartown's junior ice hockey team carry the immense weight of all the town's hopes and dreams on their shoulders. The team is about to compete in the national semifinals, and they actually have a shot at winning—a win that could bring a...

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I have read all of Fredrick Backman's books, and with each and every one I am pleasingly surprised at just how consistently wonderful a writer he is. He takes a subject I have no interest in, and turns it into a story that grips me from the first page. This time, his story centers on the game of hockey, a sport that I not only don't care for, but also sometimes find appalling. Yet when Backman starts describing how his characters play the game, including the violence that comes with it, we understand that this novel isn't just about a sport. Rather, hockey is simply the metaphor used to explore the human condition... continued

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(Reviewed by Davida Chazan ).

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Book Review: Beartown by Fredrik Backman

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Beartown Book details

• Date Published:  April 25, 2017
• Pages:  432
• Audio:  13 hours 11 minutes
• Publisher:  Atria Books
• Content Warnings: Sexual assault

Beartown Book Review

I live in a big state (California) where we have multiple sports teams, and as a result we don’t all collectively root for the same sports team. But my husband is from Wisconsin where everyone roots for the Green Bay Packers come football season, and the Milwaukee Brewers come baseball season, and Milwaukee Bucks when basketball starts (you get the idea). I remember being shocked when he told me that when the Packers lose, everyone is depressed at work come Monday morning, and no one talks to each other.

Now take that same kind of energy and put that pressure on the local junior ice hockey team and the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys, and you have the fictional town of Beartown where this story takes place.

While sports can be a very positive force for individuals and communities, they can also reach a level where they become all-important and as a result, very toxic.

I think New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman does a great job of exploring all of those complexities by way of this small town where ice hockey is this community’s entire world.

The book focuses on the young men and hockey players who make up the junior ice hockey team in Beartown . star player, Kevin, whose arrogance leads him to commit an act of violence against a young girl at a party after a big win. The young woman, Maya, is a high school student who also happens to be the daughter of the general manager of the hockey club; he is also a former NHL player. Much of the book focuses on the aftermath of this violent act, and the the impact it has on the entire town.

However, there are also several interesting storylines about other players and townspeople and how all of their stories are related.

Beartown explores a wide breadth of topics including but not limited to friendship, love, betrayal, determination, loyalty, justice, and survival. I think it also explores the dangers of someone, in this case a teenager, who becomes so good at something, he thinks he can get away with anything.

This profound novel is part coming-of-age novel and part study of moral failure. I think it also shows what happens when youth sports are elevated to a place where they should never be. 

If you like books with a strong sense of place, I think you definitely get that with this book where this small community takes on a life of its own.

While this book definitely does not shy away from heavy topics, there are also some heroes that you will find yourself rooting for.

This is my second Backman book (the other one is A Man Called Ove ), and the one thing I’ll say for both books is that they are very thought provoking. For this reason, Beartown would make a great book club pick. That being said, please note the trigger warnings.

Publisher’s Description

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown  explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

What I Liked . . .

The Depth and the Breadth. One of the things that impressed me about this book is the broad range of topics it managed to cover in one book.

The Characters. Despite having a large cast of characters, I thought they were all very well developed.

What I Didn’t Like . . .

Overextended: This book addresses a lot of heavy issues. While I like a book with several layers, I also wonder if it was trying to do too much. Although, I also recognize that’s also like criticizing someone for being an overachiever.

The Cast of Characters

Keeping track of all of the characters in this book can get a bit overwhelming, which is why I put together this handy list of the main characters for you:

• Peter Andersson – The general manager of the Beartown hockey team, a former NHL player, husband to Kira, and father to Maya and Leo.
• Kira Andersson – Peter’s wife and a lawyer. Mother of Maya and Leo.
• Maya Andersson – Peter and Kira’s teenage daughter.
• Leo Andersson – Maya’s 12-year-old brother.
• Kevin Erdahl – The star hockey player.
• Benji – Kevin’s best friend and teammate.
• Amat – A young hockey player in Beartown, often underestimated but with immense talent and passion for the game.
• Fatima – Amat’s mother and the cleaner at the hockey rink.
• Bobo – A teammate of Kevin, Benji, and Amat, known for his physical aggression on the ice. Son of Hog and Ann-Katrin.
• Ana – Maya’s best friend.
• David – The coach of the Beartown hockey team
• Sune – The 70-year-old coach of Beartown’s professional team; a mentor and father figure to many players.
• Ramona – A bar owner in Beartown, known for her no-nonsense attitude.
• Zacharias – Amat’s best friend, who is from the underprivileged Hollow of Beartown.
• William Lyt – A member of the hockey team and loyal friend of Kevin.
• The Pack – A group of influential men in Beartown who exert their power and influence in the town.
• Mr. Erdahl – Kevin’s demanding father and a big financial supporter of the local hockey club.
• Mrs. Erdahl – Kevin’s mother and powerful business woman.
• Tails – The owner of a supermarket chain. Childhood friend of Peter.
• Club President – The nameless president of the Beartown hockey club.

Book Discussion Questions

• Do you think the title fits the book? What title would you give this book?
• What do you think is the main theme of this book?
• How does the setting of Beartown contribute to the overall themes and conflicts in the story?
• How does the sport of hockey shape the identity of the people of Beartown? What does it symbolize beyond just a game?
• Discuss the character development of Maya throughout the book. How does her journey impact the other characters and the town as a whole?
• One of the central themes in Beartown is the issue of consent and the importance of believing survivors. How does the book handle this sensitive topic? What messages do you think Mr. Backman is trying to convey?
• Explore the theme of loyalty in Beartown . How do the characters’ loyalties shift and evolve throughout the story? Discuss how you see loyalty having both positive and negative consequences.
• Discuss the role of sports in Beartown . How does the hockey team’s success or failure affect the community and the individuals within it?
• Analyze the relationship between Peter and Kira, Maya’s parents. How does their marriage change over the course of the book, and how does it impact their daughter?
• Discuss the concept of “us versus them” in this small hockey town. How does this mentality shape the actions and decisions of the characters?
• Explore the theme of power and its abuse in Beartown . How do the characters wield power, and what are the consequences of their actions?
• How do ambition and the pressure to succeed drive the characters’ actions throughout the story? What are the repercussions?
• The characters in Beartown are complex and face various moral dilemmas. Which character did you find the most compelling, and why? Did any of the characters’ choices surprise you?
• Consider the role of “the pack” mentality in the story. How does the group mentality influence individual behavior, both positively and negatively?
• Analyze the character of Amat and his journey from being an outsider to finding his place in Beartown. How does his story reflect the larger themes of the book?
• Reflect on the ending of Beartown. Did it satisfy you? Why or why not?
• Out of five stars, how do you rate this book?

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The Beartown Series

Beartown is the first book in a trilogy. Here are all of the books in the series in order:

Other popular Fredrick Backman novels:

• A Man Called Ove
• Anxious People
• Britt-Marie Was Here

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StarTribune

Review: 'beartown,' by fredrik backman.

A seemingly straightforward story about a small town's hope for its youth hockey team evolves into something much more complex in "Beartown," the engrossing new novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, whose equally moving 2014 novel, "A Man Called Ove," gripped readers with its story of a quirky curmudgeon who tries to kill himself.

Within the guise of a sports novel, "Beartown" quickly turns dark as Backman exposes the one-track hearts and minds of some of Beartown's residents. The isolated community in the novel is in Sweden, but "Beartown" is a universal story of homophobia, sexism and politics that could take place anywhere.

"Small towns need a head start if they're going to have any chance in the world," Backman writes, and, as readers soon learn, covering up a heinous crime is not up for debate if the town is going to make economic and social advances. It's why Backman's descriptions of screeching hockey parents who yell at coaches and other parents during games — we've all seen them — seem almost comical set against the ugly group mentality that takes over after a teen is raped and the Beartown Ice Hockey Club's star player is accused of the crime.

Current fiction may have no more courageous young female character than Maya, who faces hate and threats after she comes forward about the rape. Backman writes a gritty, heart-stopping account of the sexual assault after which the novel then pivots into even more ominous territory as the town turns on her and her family.

"Beartown" is not just about a sexual assault; it's also about Beartown families closing ranks and perpetuating falsehoods to protect themselves and the hockey team. It's also about the all-encompassing culture of youth sports — the physical, mental and emotional commitment demanded of the players (not necessarily a bad thing) and the way that team sponsors, coaches and fans treat players like products rather than human beings.

Don't expect absolute justice in "Beartown," but prepare to be uplifted. When a witness to Maya's rape vividly describes it, "no one in the room will ever forget it." The same can be said for the memorable "Beartown."

Carol Memmott also reviews books for the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.

Beartown By: Fredrik Backman. Publisher: Atria, 418 pages, $26.99. Event: In conversation with Julie Schumacher, 7 p.m. June 13, Grace Trinity Church, 1430 W. 28th St., Mpls. Tickets $26.99, includes cost of book. http://bit.ly/2sw4lhQ

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Book Review: Beartown by Fredrik Backman

May 11, 2021 | Book Reviews , Literary Fiction | 15 comments

Beartown by Fredrik Backman is another book I picked up at my local library (curbside that is, apparently Calgary has the highest COVID numbers in the North America at the moment so libraries aren’t open right now). I’ve wanted to read it for awhile since I discovered how much I enjoyed Backman’s writing when I reviewed Anxious People last year , which still proves to be one of the most popular reviews on this blog! Based on Anxious People , I assumed this book would be similar, and the writing was, but the tone of Beartown is significantly darker. Still, it’s an equally impressive book, and I loved the characters which is where Backman truly shines.

Plot Summary

Beartown is a small hockey town in the far north, so it snows 9-10 months of the year there. If you don’t play hockey, you watch it, so its modest population is obsessed with their junior boys hockey teams and their local standings. The teams haven’t been doing well lately, and the town itself is slowly shrinking; the factory is downsizing and people are moving away from lack of jobs. But there are a few promising young men whose talents seem to be a lifeline for Beartown, and if they can reach the finals, there’s a chance a hockey academy will be built there, which will then bring back industry and retail, etc. We meet and follow the town’s hockey star, his best friend who has a deep secret, the boy from the wrong side of the town but incredibly fast on skates, the enigmatic daughter of the hockey club’s general manager, and various other characters who all contribute to the main conflict that drives the plot. Things progress in a fairly positive way at the beginning of the book (that is, if you can ignore the fact that all the adults are putting far too much pressure on these young hockey players), but things take a dark and unexpected turn when a young woman accuses the hockey team’s star of raping her at a party. People take this news much as you would expect in a town like this; they become divided, and blame the victim more often than not. Still, Backman’s portrayal of each character and how they react to this news is the meat of the plot, and drove me through the 400 pages of this book quicker than I’d ever imagine myself reading a book about hockey.

My Thoughts

People had warned me Beartown was dark, but it wasn’t until I started reading it that I realized this darkness permeates the entire story. In a literal sense, the town itself is in darkness more often than not because of its geographic location; the days are short and the sun doesn’t shine for long, especially in the winter. And hockey is a sport that is associated with early mornings, and the majority of the characters wake up extremely early to get to the rink as soon as possible. The thought of dragging either of my kids anywhere for a 5am practice is enough to strike terror into my heart, so I’m secretly hoping they will remain as unathletic as their parents. I couldn’t help but be suspicious of everyone’s obsession with hockey and these kids’ performances, that’s what I found the darkest of all. Backman doesn’t frame all of these obsessions as unhealthy, and he does show us through other characters that people care about hockey because they ultimately care about their town and neighbors but…I was still uncomfortable. I just couldn’t relate to an obsession over sports, and more importantly, the ignorance these people demonstrated by putting so much pressure on these kids. Because at the end of the day, that’s all they are is kids. Some of the hockey team’s owners, managers and sponsors refer to the boys as products by accident, which is a Freudian slip of the tongue, because in the end, they ceased to be human as soon as they stepped on the ice. As a parent, I found this to be the most upsetting realization of the book.

I feel as though I can’t properly review a Backman book until I’ve included a quote, because his observations about life are just so spot on, I think it’s one of the reasons why he is such a beloved author. I’m still finding myself in a very sentimental state these days, so of course I’m going to include a quote about parenting:

Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone who’s freezing (p. 110).

I know this is so cliché, but when I read that line, I literally clutched my chest and said ‘ugh’ out loud to myself. It’s so true! So true! As a mother I always feel spread too thin, especially now that we are trying to help my duaghter with ‘online school’ while we work out full-time jobs. I’m grateful for my role as a mother, but seeing it acknowledged in print like this always makes me feel better because it’s nice to know you’re not alone in thinking this.

Although this is a dark book, I do recommend it, especially for those who have read other Backman books and enjoyed them. Beartown ‘s exploration of pack mentality is something that holds extra weight during this pandemic because we are so at the mercy of others (at least, it feels that way). Learning to understand how we come to certain conclusions, why others think the way they do, how a group dynamics can affect individual thought, it’s all relevant right now.

Spread the Word!

15 comments.

Do you think the link to Friday Night Lights fits in (the blurb, I mean) is as much about style as it is about the themes it refers to? Those are themes (e.g. loyalty) that I enjoy in literature, but I binge-watched the first season of FNL and then just lost interest and now it’s one of those but-everyone-else-loves-it things in my mind….which is always what I’ve kinda thought Backman’s books might be for me too, y’know? That too-small blanket thing though… I get that!

I’ve never seen Friday Night Lights (i.e. because I find sports so boring, on and off the screen LOL). And the blanket metaphor-so good right!

Everything you say about Beartown is true. The sequel Us Against You was a bit hard to get into at first but once I did it took off and in the end I liked it better than Beartown . Have you seen the limited series of Beartown? There’s just 5 episodes or so and we saw it on Crave. It’s pretty true to the book and is well done.

I haven’t seen the show but I’m dying to! I saw the trailer and it looks soo good. And now I need to read the sequel.

Count me as another one who doesn’t get the sports obsession when it comes to kids. In my town, kids who play hockey, that’s their whole life. It’s so all-consuming that my husband and I basically decided before we ever had children that we would not encourage them to play hockey!

and as a Canadian that’s difficult to say, but I totally agree!

True! I wouldn’t say that to just anybody!

Hockey kids come with their own oddities in the U.S. because hockey isn’t a school sport. Thus, the parents pay for every aspect of the game: gear, uniform, travel, practice space, even paying the coach. If you want to do it, you better really want to, and your parents have to be financially well-off enough to support that dream. What I’m getting at is I can see why parents in the U.S. may take hockey Very Seriously — because of the money investment. However, in Canada, don’t you guys pretty much skate on everything? lol.

I’m actually reading a similar-ish book called True Story by Katy Reed Petty about a lacrosse team! The audiobook is compelling.

Girl I wish we skated on everything-how fun would that be! Hockey is the same here, we don’t have a lot of school rinks so people who play have to invest quite a bit of money. Yet another reason why I hope my kids don’t want to play it LOL

Sorry your COVID numbers are so high, I am catching up on your posts and since this is an older post I hope things have changed since then. It was great to read your review on Beartown as I have this book sitting on my shelf (found it for $2.00 while at a charity thrift shop) and I am looking forward to reading it someday.

Thank you Tierney! our numbers are going down now, thank goodness. Many of us have our first vaccine now which is great news-things are definitely looking up! Hope you are well too 🙂

A Man called Ove is another one of his books. It is a 5 star read.

I’m looking forward to reading Beartown.

Yes I think a Man Called Ove should be next on my library hold list!

it’s not an easy task you undertake and you seem to be doing it with consistency and commitment. special thanks coming your way to let you know that you’re doing a great service to the tireless authors, writers, readers and the entire fraternity. stick with it. blessings. will be following your posts and hope you follow mine and share a thought sometime.

thank you for your kind words!

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Book Review and Recommendation Blog

Beartown by Fredrik Backman – Book Review

Warning – possible spoilers! (Tiny ones, though, and I’ll try to avoid even those; I swear I’ll give my best not to ruin it for you… :-))

Beartown by Fredrik Backman – Book Details

TITLE  – Beartown

SERIES – Beartown, book #1

AUTHOR – Fredrik Backman

GENRE – literary fiction , contemporary , sports

YEAR PUBLISHED – 2016

PAGE COUNT – 489

MY RATING – 5 of 5

RATED ON GOODREADS – 4.25 of 5

Initial Thoughts

I feel a bit late to the party with this one. It was published a few years ago, and all this time I’ve been hearing ravings about it from my friends and fellow book bloggers. It was on my TBR for quite a while and I’ve finally gotten around to reading it a few weeks ago.

All I can say is – I can’t believe I didn’t read this book sooner!

Why? Why wouldn’t I want to have something like this in my life?

Beartown won me over from the very start. The writing was so simple and effortless, it felt innocent. It’s crazy how small things Backman can make incredibly touching.

Now, I knew before reading it what the book was all about. And ever since I started reading it, all I could think was – I really, really don’t want it to happen. I’ve grown attached to the characters faster that I could imagine. Knowing what was coming almost made me put down the book.

Except – you can’t really put down a Backman. He writes about humanity, flaws, fears and hope in such a way that makes you feel connected with the world and people.

I was around 40 pages in when I knew this book was going to break my heart a bit. I just knew it. He prepares you for it. Gives you little clues along the way.

But Backman is also a kind of writer to whom you can trust he will put it back together…

What It Is About

Beartown is a small forest town somewhere in Sweden. It is getting smaller and smaller each year, as there are less and less jobs and not many things that would attract new people and investors. But one thing gives the locals hope in a better tomorrow – hockey.

A lot of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Beartown’s junior ice hockey team. The approaching finals brings a lot of hope but it also creates extreme tension. Parents, classmates, club members, business sponsors… Who you are today and who you are going to be tomorrow – it all depends on how you play in semi-finals.

Everything, including justice and morality, comes second on a night like this.

When a 15 year-old girl becomes a victim of a violent act, it puts the whole community to a test. This is a story about what it really means to be a part of a pack and how much courage it takes to stand on your own for what you believe in.

(I’m not gonna go into any specific details here because I don’t want to spoil it for you. But do check trigger warnings for this book if there is anything specific you want to avoid.)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman – My Review

Beartown became one of my favorite books of all time. So I knew writing this review is going to be challenging for me – though I wouldn’t mind gushing about it all day long, there are only so many ways you can say “It was amazing.”

Beartown is one of those books that seem pretty easy to describe, yet I feel whatever I say, I won’t be able to draw you a full picture of why you really, really need to read this book.

Basically, something horrible happens in this small, isolated, hockey-obsessed town. And the book describes the reaction of townspeople to this event.

I’m trying to be really careful while reviewing this book. I don’t want to scare off someone who’s trying to avoid deep, sad, heartbreaking tales. I’m also usually trying to avoid books that can make me cry. But I’ve loved this one so much, it would be a real shame if I’d skipped it.

Beartown has its heartbreaking moments, but it is so much more than a sad book. It is filled with so many amazing things, like love, family, loyalty, devotion, warmth, small acts of kindness and so much hope – it can make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Backman handles sensitive, difficult topics in a way I’ve never seen before. Everything was done in such a quiet voice that still somehow managed to get louder and clearer than a scream.

This book talks about right vs. wrong, violence, justice, community, fears, dreams, culture, integrity, privilege, pressure, prejudices, misjudgment, silence, authority, family, decisions, belonging, winners, losers, hope, loneliness, loyalty, betrayal, forgiveness…

All of that is tackled in one way or another, yet you never feel overwhelmed or like too much is going on.

I usually prefer books written from a single perspective, but in this case many, many POVs were much needed to fully paint the story. Everyone handles the situation differently. Everyone has to decide for themselves what is truly important to them. Each new perspective changes your own opinion a little bit.

It is ridiculous after how little interaction you start to feel affection for these people. So quickly you feel like you know who they are and what they are like. You get to know them while they are still whole and innocent. You root for them to make the right decision. And when they don’t, it strikes really hard.

I also loved how the characters were presented in relation to one another. So you often get two very different people coming to the same conclusion, or two very similar people end up being very different in their essences.

I am not gonna say that I liked the violence in this book, but I definitely loved how it was presented. It got me frightened for sure. It made me feel all the helplessness and frustration of an individual who’s trying to do something against the wishes of a much larger, stronger, ruthless crowd.

I also loved how Backman used hockey as a tool to bring people’s strengths and weaknesses to the surface. I am not a huge sports person, but in Beartown hockey is so much more than a sport. It is this hovering, ever present thing that reveals people’s true colors and affects their decisions sometimes more than their families could.

Hockey is what makes this group of people a community. And one of the major questions this book asks is what it really means to be a part of a community. What would you give up to belong?

One of the things Backman does extremely well is the use of repetition. Usually, if a book is repetitive, it gets old real quick and just starts to annoy me. But Backman uses repetition intentionally and very skillfully to emphasize and give weight to what he’s trying to say.

He also uses it very diversely. Sometimes it is just a simple bang bang bang bang bang that sets the atmosphere and means different things to different people. Other times he will say something that sounds quite simple and innocent, then remind you of it later on when certain events give those words a much different meaning.

I have no words to describe how well written Beartown is. I wanted to cry and scream and burn this book and read it again. It made me angry, and sad, and so frustrated. But is also gave hope and a sense that – everything is going to be alright.

This book made me think a lot about Backman himself. How do you sit down and write a story like this?

It also made me think – thank God there’s a sequel . I am not ready to say goodbye to some of these characters just yet…

MORE BY FREDRIK BACKMAN: THE DEAL OF A LIFETIME , ANXIOUS PEOPLE

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(2) comments.

Everytime I read some of yours reviews I think “How well is this said, how easy for reading is” and yet, when after a while I read some other review of yours I think exactly the same – how great is this written. I don’t know where to start with how grateful I am for this review – so first of all thank you. You really go deep into the essence of the book, characters and what the writer wanted to tell. And then, you somehow manage to give your own opinion and be objective at the same time! While I was reading this review, I felt like I HAVE TO read the book, right now, I wanted to feel what you said you felt and you were soo intriguing, I was as exited before reading it as much as you were after 😁😁😁 Thank you, you are the best

Yay! Really glad you liked my review! Hope you’ll enjoy this series as much as I did… ❤️️❤️️❤️️

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Reviews | June 2017

A review of Beartown

By Jamie Sumner

Fredrik Backman likes to make people cry. His writing does not punch the reader in the arm and run away, but instead pulls at the most delicate sensibilities, the ones that stay tender from childhood through old age. He covers the loss of a spouse in A Man Called Ove , the loss of a grandparent in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry , the loss of expectations in Britt-Marie Was Here , and finally the loss of the mind in Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer . He makes the reader long for what was, what could have been, and what may be if the world could live differently.

Backman’s new novel, Beartown ,—a book about the culture of hockey in a hockey town—seemed a divergence from theme. Sports novels walk a fine line, balancing technicality with emotion—too much play-by-play and it reads like commentator’s notes, but too little and the author loses true sports fans. However, Backman once again unites a world of diverse readers with two simple questions: What happens when people live according to expectations, and what happens when they don’t?

The junior hockey team of Beartown aims to bring money, notoriety, and honor back to the small town. This is neither a small nor short-lived pursuit. The town has eaten generations of men in its quest for success. Those that did not make it professionally in the sport now work at the local factory and populate the bar, wishing for their past. However, the way Backman presents this young team makes the reader initially root for them, the ones who fight every opponent, on and off the ice, with the bodies and hearts of bears. The sacrifices of time, sleep, and any relationship beyond the rink seem too much to ask from boys not yet eighteen, not yet men. When the star player perpetrates rape, this becomes the debate at the center of the novel. The town has required them to act like men their entire lives, but, have the men of this town, the fathers, the board members of the hockey club, the “Pack” at the bar, have they made these boys what they are?

Carl Jung, the first to apply the idea of archetypes to literature, thought the father-son dynamic was significant enough to include in his list. The conflict between the two, whether through physical or emotional disparities, can create a tension that radiates to every corner of a plot. From Victor Frankenstein to Harry Potter, readers have seen the villains and heroes father-figures create. The same pressure arises in Beartown . Central character Peter Andersson, the hockey club manager with a paralyzing fear of conflict, is the son of an abusive and alcoholic father. Kevin, the star athlete, exhibits sociopathic tendencies in the glare of the unflinching perfectionism of his father. The boys with no fathers seem to fare the best. They thrive under the guidance of strong mothers. Benji is the son of a nurse and an unstoppable beast of a boy who feeds on pain and drugs, yet he becomes the defender of the weak and honest. Amat is the smallest and newest player on the team, yet he bears witness before an entire town. It is his mother, the rink’s cleaning woman, who gives him courage with these words:

I don’t know what you know. But whatever it is, there’s clearly someone out there who’s terrified that you’re going to reveal it. And let me tell you something, my darling boy: I don’t need any men…I don’t need a man to tell me what I can think and feel and believe. I only need one man: my son. And you’re not alone. You’ve never been alone.

Backman also employs the most seasoned weapon of his craft, the metaphor, to drag this town’s social mores up for review. Through his extended metaphors, he dissects the anatomy of the people in a place willing to view a rapist as a victim. One such comparison asks the reader to consider the values of a society with only two kinds of citizens:

When a child learns to hunt, they are taught that the forest contains two different sorts of animal: predators and prey. The predators have their eyes close together, facing the front, because they only need to focus on their prey. Their prey, on the other hand, have their eyes wide apart, on either side of the head, because their only chance of survival is if they can see predators approaching from behind.

In a world like Beartown, where one is either predator or prey, to isolate oneself against the common opinion means certain destruction. Backman asks the reader to consider whose view gives the most perspective? Who, in pursuit of success, has made prey of their own humanity?

In fact, the reader will come upon ideas such as these repeatedly throughout the course of the novel, to the point where one wonders if Backman has forgotten he has already put these phrases to good use. Phrases such as:

This sport demands only one thing from you. Your all. You can’t live in this town, you can only survive it. Why does anyone care about hockey? Perhaps that depends on who you are. And where.

But Backman is an author who knows what he’s doing. The words sink into the reader’s subconscious. They do what all good sports chants do; they stick around long after the game is won or lost. The reader steps away from this book with themes resonating like slogans that turn into questions. One cannot help but ask if it is in fact accurate that “one of the plainest truths about both towns and individuals is that they usually don’t turn into what we tell them to be, but what they are told they are.” Who helps to make a person who they are? Is it the fathers, the mothers, the peers, or the society in which they grow? How much responsibility does each player hold? The answer is not black and white. It never is—a universal truth in all of Fredrik Backman’s novels.

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Beartown (Backman)

Beartown   Fredrik Backman, 2017 Atria Books 432 pp. ISBN-13: 9781501160769 Summary A dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true .

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. ( From the publisher .)

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With His New Novel, Fredrik Backman Pulls Off a Hat Trick

In “The Winners,” the Swedish author wraps up his Beartown trilogy.

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By Mark Rotella

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THE WINNERS, by Fredrik Backman

Parents of youth hockey players sometimes joke that, thanks to the sport’s intense early-morning weekend schedule, we belong to the International Church of Hockey. And in “The Winners,” the third installment in the hockey-centric Beartown trilogy, Fredrik Backman takes competition, friendship, politics and town rivalry to appropriately biblical proportions.

The novel begins with a once-in-a-generation storm in the deep forests of the far reaches of northern Sweden, where the rival towns Beartown and Hed are pitted against each other — socially, economically and on the ice. The squall uproots trees, closes roads and destroys buildings, including Hed’s hockey rink, resulting in chaos and deaths in both towns. For the next week, the lives of firefighters, midwives, politicians, newspaper editors, businessmen, lawyers, Middle Eastern immigrants and hockey players collide in ways that will leave each character forever altered.

At the novel’s core are Maya Andersson and Benji Ovich, two Beartown teenagers who independently fled their hometown: Maya escaped to the big city for college, while Benji “took trains and boats and hitchhiked for lifts in trucks until the towns along the way no longer had hockey teams.” They return after the storm to mourn the death of a beloved member of the Beartown community. We learn that, two and a half years earlier, Maya (whose father is a former pro hockey player and the coach of Beartown’s hockey team) was raped by Kevin Erdahl, the team’s star player and best friend of Benji, the team enforcer who came out as gay. Both events — which were central to the trilogy’s first two novels, “Beartown” and “Us Against You” — reverberated throughout the town, forcing people to question their allegiances and moral consciences.

“Keep it simple,” Backman writes. “That’s a common piece of advice in hockey, as it is in life.” He goes on: “The problem with both hockey and life is that simple moments are rare. All the others are a struggle.” In straightforward prose, Backman explores these other moments — including ones involving sexual assault, homophobia, xenophobia, child abuse and hockey fanaticism. Meanwhile, the Bearskin pub serves as the nerve center of the town and meeting place for “the Pack,” a fearsome group of hockey hooligans whose shadows appear throughout the narrative.

The struggles for the folks of Hed and Beartown intensify in the week following the storm. The tension between the towns grows, with fights breaking out after a hockey game, rumors spreading that the team from Hed will be shut down after the collapse of their rink, and the local newspaper beginning to focus on potential embezzlement by board members of Beartown’s hockey club.

Backman also illuminates the intertwining lives of a dozen townspeople with great care. Maya’s father, Peter, who has quit coaching and is left purposeless, is being investigated by the newspaper for possible corruption; Maya’s upstanding lawyer mother, Kira, gets pulled into the mess. Peter forms an unlikely friendship with his onetime adversary Teemu, the intimidating leader of the Pack; and Ana, Maya’s best friend, who dislikes hockey, takes care of her alcoholic elk hunter father.

Of course, at the heart of the tale are the Beartown hockey players: Bobo, the gentle giant who has become the team manager; Mumble, the sensitive goalie, who struggles with regret and a dark secret; and Amat, a young man who grew up in the poor section of Beartown called the Hollow. His mother, Fatima, works as the Beartown arena cleaner; Amat once went to the United States to participate in the N.H.L. draft but mysteriously came back empty-handed and turned to drinking. (While Backman certainly knows hockey, a minor quibble for North American audiences is the use of British soccer terms applied to hockey: “Tackle” is used for a check or hit; and “training” for practice, as in “training tops” instead of “practice jerseys.”)

Quietly, in the distance, is a boy named Matteo, raised by reclusive and devout Christian parents, who seeks answers and revenge for the overdose death of his sister, Ruth, who, like Maya, was also a rape victim: “In the town of bears, girls are worth less than animals.” Maya and Benji together reunite with old friends and teammates, just as the Hed and Beartown junior teams face each other in this emotionally wrought, bighearted novel.

Mark Rotella, the director of the Coccia Institute at Montclair State University and a professor of creative writing, is the author of “Stolen Figs and Other Adventures in Calabria” and “Amore: The Story of Italian American Song.”

THE WINNERS | By Fredrik Backman | 688 pp. | Atria | $28.99

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Beartown: A Novel (Beartown Series) Hardcover – April 25, 2017

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Book 1 of 3 Beartown
• Print length 432 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Atria Books
• Publication date April 25, 2017
• Dimensions 6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 1501160761
• ISBN-13 978-1501160769
• Lexile measure 840L
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com review, from school library journal, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books; Translation edition (April 25, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501160761
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501160769
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 840L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
• #406 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)
• #421 in Humorous Fiction
• #3,140 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Fredrik backman.

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, and two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime, as well as one work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. His books are published in more than forty countries. His next novel, Anxious People, will be published in September 2020. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand or on Instagram @Backmansk.

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Beartown by Fredrik Backman

• Publication Date: February 6, 2018
• Genres: Fiction
• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press
• ISBN-10: 150116077X
• ISBN-13: 9781501160776
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Beartown Book Club Discussion & Review

Beartown Book Club Discussion Questions and Book Review

Beartown by Fredrik Backman is always one of my top book recommendations for book clubs. It’s appealing to a variety of readers and features intense subjects that are perfect for book club discussions. I’m sharing my book review of Beartown as well as a few Beartown book club discussion questions to review. These are a great starting point for your own book club. Or share your thoughts in the comments!

If you end up reading Beartown and loving it, the sequel, Us Against You, is just as incredible. Plus, it’s available on BookOutlet for only $5.50! I’d also recommend his other novels, A Man Called Ove and Britt Marie Was Here. Beartown ended up on my favorite novels of the decade list, but in reality all of Backman’s novels could have been added!

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

About the Author – Since his debut novel, A Man Called Ove, Backman continues writing bestseller after bestseller. Backman is a Swedish author, columnist, and blogger whose works have been published in over forty countries. He currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden with his wife and kids. His next novel, Anxious People, is set to be released in the Summer of 2020.

About the Book – The story takes place in Beartown, a small community of tough folk living deep in the forest. These people live hard lives and hockey is their only escape. When the amateur hockey team makes it to the national semifinal, everyone believes this is the town’s chance for survival. A win could mean better sponsors, better players, and a renewed interest from the rest of the country.

When a scandal involving one of the players and a younger girl rocks the town, accusations begin to fly and each individual must choose who to believe.

My Beartown Review

Beartown is a darker novel than we’ve seen thus far from Backman. There’s less light-hearted whimsy and quirky lovable characters. Instead, Backman shows up when happens when flawed humans get caught up in their devotion to a sport or community. He has the ability to write incredibly real characters and perfectly captures how humans might react in a similar situation.

To put it in perspective, I started this book on a Friday night and finished it Saturday morning. The emotional plot and characters completely captivated me. It’s a bit terrifying how much this situation mirrors what happens in our society – some of these heartless individuals are all too familiar. However, Backman also understands courage and those who stand up for what’s right. He writes realistically, knowing that sometimes we make the wrong decision initially but ultimately redeem ourselves.

Spoilers Ahead!

Beartown book club discussion questions.

1. The hockey players are under intense pressure to win from both the townspeople and their coaches/sponsors. How does this affect them? Did the coaches and hockey club leaders prepare them to deal with this strain?

These young men didn’t show the pressure when they played, but it clearly impacted other areas of their life. Their whole lives they’ve been part of this team, constantly coached, berated, and told hockey is more important than literally anything else. The team mentality, while often an excellent thing, unfortunately led to protecting someone who didn’t deserve it. They’ve never been taught to treat others with respect or in some cases even dignity. This also plays out in how Amat is initially treated when he joins the team. It isn’t until he plays well that he’s assigned any value. 

2. Who were your favorite characters and why? Did your choice change throughout the book?

Kira was easily one of my favorites. She clearly didn’t fit in or understand the town, but she stuck by her husband while simultaneously excelling at her job. I love how her doubts and frustrations about being a wife, mother, and employee were shown as well. It made her real and relatable. Bobo’s transformation is a delight to read as well. He starts out as just another aggressive bully but turns into a caring and supportive friend. 

3. What were you expecting when Maya faced Kevin at the end of the novel? How would her life have been different if she made the opposite choice? 

I fully expected Maya to kill him. After everything she’d experienced and her mental state at the time, I had no doubt she would do it. It was such a relief to find out she decided just to scare him. Despite the instant justice she might have felt, it would ruin her life and she deserved better than that. Knowing that Ana got there just in time to watch, I’m also thinking about how it may have ruined Ana’s life as well. Ana would need to decide whether to turn in her best friend or deal with the unimaginable guilt the rest of her life. Instead, Maya rose above and proved she was stronger than what Kevin did to her. She’s such an admirable character, so I was beyond thrilled to read about her personal success later in life. 

4. Do you think the community is fundamentally changed by the events of this novel or do you think it’s possible they’ll fall back into the hockey frenzy in time? 

At the end of the book, we read about the young girl who steps on to the ice for the first time in Beartown and eventually becomes its greatest hockey player. That leads me to believe they’re willing to support a woman and have hopefully turned away from their prejudice. However, she’s still a hockey player and the devotion to hockey was the primary reason for the issues throughout the novel. The possibility exists that any individuals who aren’t concerned with hockey or who excel in other ways might still be mistreated. Beartown is certainly a cautionary tale. 

Answer the questions or add your own thoughts about these Beartown book club discussion questions in the comments!

One Comment

Just finished the book and I’m still mulling it over. Excellent discussion questions here! Would love to hear your thoughts on Benji. Did he grow in any way? Loved the quiet ways that different people stepped up but infuriated with all of the people who silently gave in to the easy way out. Excellent portrayals of humanity by Backman.

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