NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: LibraryReads BookBrowse Goodreads “You’ll love this engrossing novel.” –People The 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 … 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.
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I listened to the audio book , and I have to say the narrator brought this story to life. Beartown is written in omniscient third person, which actually worked so very well. Beartown is a hockey town. They live and breathe hockey, and the story starts off with the town folks gearing up for the semi-finals game. But then, this book is not only about hockey. There’s a lot more going on. It deals with friendships and family, events that happen and how society views them. Everything was so realistic I felt like I was living in this town. This book has taken a spot on my top favorite books ever.
A shrinking town obsessed by hockey – richly developed characters and relationships – power struggles and a deeply engrained modus operandi – all lead the reader to puzzle through the tangled circumstances as they lead to an almost certain undoing of the town cultural fabric…and …there will be a sequel!
Wonderful book, heartfelt; great character development and great story.
This book grabbed my attention from the first page. I learned some things about small towns and small sports organizations and made connections with the powerful characters as I met them. I work with teenagers and this depicted the dynamics of their relationships spot-on. I respected how Backman portrayed the horrific details of an all-too frequent tragedy with candor and honesty for what transpires before, during and after the fact for all those involved (and he clarifies how they all are involved to one extent or another.) Life in Beartown will stay with you long after you close the book for the last time.
In-depth characters. Excellent sense of place.
Heartwarming story without getting cheesy, liked the characters, story was believable.
This book was very good with a surprise end !
As a Mom of 3 sons and 1 husband who all played hockey, I found this book true to hockey life. The reality of tryouts, for coaches as well as players and their families, games ,the competion between friends can all add up to tension, stress and sometimes the worst in people. This novel addresses all issues that those of us in the sport experience and how we roller coaster through it. Well written, easy to read and has great moral content.
The beginning of the book was slow starting as I am not a hockey fan; however, Bockman’s characters soon had me not wanting to put the book down. His insight into the human race is incredible as well as the normal responses of people in regard to dealing with good vs evil. This book is a winner and a page turner. I am glad that I continued over the “slow start” hump and traveled down the road at a racing speed. Outstanding in my opinion.
4/5 I enjoyed this book and am glad that I chose it to fulfill the book involving a Sport requirement in the 2018 Popsugar Reading Challenge. I did however find that the erratic and lack of clear transition between characters to be unappealing.
It’s an amazing portrait of a small town and the lines that get drawn in a tragic event. The characters are well developed. His phrases are remarkable.
I chose this book, because I loved the author’s A Man Called Ove. I cannot say I loved this story. I hated this story but thought it was well written with characters to love. It’s a modern-day Lord of the Flies novel. It’s a social comment on the way things are when one’s successful. It’s a story that needs to be told, because it points out all the things that people knew and did long before Ray Rice ever punched his girlfriend in an elevator. It’s a horrible story, but it’s a too oft-repeated story, and maybe, just maybe, with a shifting tide, to which this story contributes well, the story can change. The NFL is changing, which means other leagues are changing, including the NHL; then, there’s the Bill Cosby verdict. As with this novel, there is hope. The story is horrible, so I can’t recommend it, but it is a well-written story with many, many truths written in the fiction.
This is one of the best novels I have read. The characters are so well developed and I found myself caring about them. There were some “not so nice” but that is what makes a story real The issues were controversial and absorbing. It is not just a book about the sport of hockey- it is so much more
I will be thinking about this story for a very long time
Even when you are not reading this novel you are thinking about the individual characters and how they interact. The setting has you in a community that worships hockey and the players. At what point do you let your beliefs about the sport and players cloud your judgement on right and wrong. What happens to your sense of worth when you look the other way.
I loved the book. It was so true to how a small town who’s main form of entertainment is a high school sport and how they react when something disrupts that sport. Usually it’s high school football but in this case it’s high school hockey. It takes place in a foreign country but could just as easily have been any small American town. Very good read about human nature.
GREAT BOOK! Gripping with wonderful characters.
Is a story based on what could really happen in not only a small town but in any town with teenagers. This town is all about hockey and the star of the hockey team can get away with….well….anything. It is interesting which friends back up bad behavior and which distance themselves. Good story. I listened to it as a book on tape.
If you liked A Man Called Ove this book is just as good. 1st few chapters are about getting to know the characters and then I couldn’t put it down.
I’m giving it a four rather than a five because of some really crude language used by some of the characters. I know that it’s realistic from what my kids have told me when they were teenagers, but I don’t think it’s really necessary.
Aside from that, wow, what an amazing book! I loved “A Man Called Ove”, but Mr. Backman topped that with this one. The characters are all so real. I think all of us have seen the herd instinct operate with kids and adults, how everyone wants the approval of one person of exceptional ability or dominance. And the scorn heaped on anyone who can upset this “natural” order of things. There were a lot of surprises in the story just as the people around us, even those we think we know well, can surprise us. The reader does a really good job.
When you begin reading this book, you think that you are reading a book about hockey. While hockey plays a part, the themes in this book include loyalty, community, gender roles, integrity, families, secrets, winning and losing, longing for past glory, and more. The book is much more involving that it seems at first. A good read and I’m looking forward to the sequel.