Meet New Books
Book Cover

Beartown

Book 1 in the series:Beartown

Save:
Find on Amazon

Beartown by Fredrik Backman is a gripping novel set in a small, isolated Swedish town where hockey is the heartbeat of the community. The story delves into the lives of various town residents, exploring their relationships, struggles, and moral dilemmas. The plot takes a dark turn when a traumatic event shakes the town, forcing its inhabitants to take sides and confront difficult truths. Backman's writing style is praised for its emotional depth, character development, and ability to evoke strong feelings in readers, making them empathize with even the most flawed characters.

Characters:

Characters are well-rounded, flawed individuals whose lives intertwine as they navigate the challenges posed by community loyalty and personal integrity.

Writing/Prose:

Backman's writing style is poignant and accessible, with lyrical prose that weaves multiple character perspectives into an emotional narrative.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot depicts a small hockey-obsessed town facing a devastating incident, leading to moral challenges and community division.

Setting:

The setting in a snowy Swedish town enhances the themes of isolation and community, with the hockey arena as a focal point.

Pacing:

Pacing is initially slow to allow for character development, but accelerates as the main conflict emerges, creating a gripping narrative.
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 tourna...

Notes:

Beartown explores serious themes like friendship, loyalty, domestic abuse, rape, and bullying.
The town's identity and survival are heavily tied to its junior hockey team.
The author uses a large cast of characters to show varied perspectives on key events.
The story depicts the impact of a traumatic event on both the victim and the community as a whole.
Backman uses hockey culture as a lens to explore societal issues and moral dilemmas.
The novel is highly recommended for book clubs due to its depth and the discussions it can provoke.
Readers often mention deep emotional reactions, including tears and heartache, highlighting its impact.
The story begins with a foreshadowing event – a teenager picks up a shotgun and pulls the trigger.
Despite dealing with heavy topics, many readers find Backman's writing style accessible and engaging.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings for Beartown include sexual assault, bullying, childhood trauma, domestic abuse, and alcoholism.

From The Publisher:

Now an HBO Original Series

"You'll love this engrossing novel." -People

Named a Best Book of the Year by LibraryReads, BookBrowse, and Goodreads

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People, a dazzling and profound novel about a small town with a big dream-and the price required to make it come true.

By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town's junior ice hockey team are 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.

Under that heavy burden, the match becomes 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.

This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

Ratings (88)

Incredible (22)
Loved It (32)
Liked It (21)
It Was OK (9)
Did Not Like (4)

Reader Stats (150):

Read It (85)
Currently Reading (1)
Want To Read (46)
Did Not Finish (7)
Not Interested (11)

2 comment(s)

Did Not Like
1 day

SYNOPSIS

Beartown is a small town, where everyone worships the hockey team.

Basically, the town’s future is riding on the success of the junior boys’ hockey team.

Each chapter contains lots of different characters & shifts between their perspectives.

Check trigger warnings, as main conflict in book involves sexual assault/rape.

MY THOUGHTS

The writing style was strange to me. I didn’t like the third person narrator, and I wasn’t a fan of the shifting perspective every few minutes.

Sooo many characters & perspectives that I never felt truly connected to any of them.

The ending was not satisfying.

Story drags on far too long.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️this one wasn’t for me, unfortunately.

 
Loved It
3 weeks

Enjoyed this book more than I expected, added a few more Backman books to my TBR!

 

About the Author:

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 Anxious People, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand and on Instagram @Backmansk.

 
Meet New Books is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products and services on amazon.com and its subsidiaries.
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.