Beartown by Fredrik Backman

GoodReads 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.
Review:
I borrowed this from the library after a friend on twitter (thanks Jenny!) told me about it. This book exceeded every single expectation I had for it. I am completely blown away by this story. I have done nothing but read in all of my available free time because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen in this story. It was compelling, kept me interested, insightful, and so much more. I think this is a story that everyone should read. Going into it I was excited because hockey is the one sport that my family really pays attention to and watches, so I knew this book would interest me. But I got so much more than I asked for.

“Never trust people who don’t have something in their lives that they love beyond all reason.”

This story tells of a town that is so obsessed with their local hockey team and the thing that team inspires. The team (or the hockey club in general) is the most important thing and loyalty should always be to the team. The team, the bears from Beartown always stick together no matter what. But what happens when the leader of this team, the player that all the others look up to the most, does something truly horrible? A town divided between staying loyal to the team, to the club, to Kevin, or believing a young girl’s accusation is what this story is really about.

“There are thousands of ways to die in Beartown. Especially on the inside.”

I loved every single thing about this story. It was hard hitting and honestly, I cried like four separate times. This story was written wonderfully. I enjoyed the beginning, where we’re learning about all the characters that matter, about the town dynamics, how life works in Beartown, what hockey means to all of the characters, and how it has impacted their lives. The story then goes on to tell of events at a party after an important win and this changes the entire course of the story. Instead of following the team to victory for the season, we instead follow a town divided between doing what is morally right or doing what is right for the hockey club.

“Pride in a team can come from a variety of causes. Pride in a place, or a community, or just a single person. We devote ourselves to sports because they remind us of how small we are just as much as they make us bigger.”

Beartown was insightful and heartbreaking and horrifying and just incredible. I think it discusses the love of a parent to their child and other family dynamics in such an interesting and thoughtful way. There are so many different kinds of families, wealthy, poor, white picket fence households, single parent homes, it really explored all kinds of home lives. There is just such an interesting group of different kinds of characters. Different in many ways like race, sexual orientation, age, and all the good things. I also really enjoyed that this story was told from so many different perspectives. We read from perspectives of both the adults and the children, so it’s a story that can have a very wide group of readers. There were also quite a few really hard topics talked about such as being gay (and hiding it), rape, suicide, murder, bullying, and just so many extremely relevant things.

“I know you’d have killed for me, Mom. I know you’d have given your life for me. But we’re going to get through this, you and me. Because I’m your daughter. I’ve got wolf’s blood.”

I thought this was going to be a book about hockey, instead, I was given so much more. I really cannot recommend this story enough. I am going to try to patiently wait for the sequel to be available at my library and then fly through that story as well.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

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