Thank you Atria Books, #partner, for the finished copy of Beartown in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Published: March 23, 2021 (Originally Published 2016)
Summary:
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.
My thoughts:
Last year, I received a copy of this book in a holiday package from one of my favorite publishers and I knew it was a sign I finally needed to read it. I knew it was a trilogy and had heard amazing things about it, but I just never got around to reading it…and then it still managed to sit on my shelf until I saw a bookstagrammer friend had a buddy read going. That did it and now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to read this. This book is easily going to be a favorite of mine, one I know I will come back to again and again!
This is such a powerful, heartbreaking, heartwarming story. It got to me in all the feels. The characters are so well developed, by the time you have finished reading this book, you feel as if you actually know them. My heart went out to all these characters. The small-town setting is so real and having lived small towns all my life, I could so appreciate this.
This book is about so much more than just hockey. Yes, there are some hard topics that are addressed but it’s done in such a way that you find yourself completely engrossed in what is going on, both wanting to and needing to know how it will all work out. There is so much heart here that the violence and ugliness that is part of the story is almost written with a sense of hope.
If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it. Read it with others so you have emotional support…I did and I’m so grateful. I knew after one chapter this was going to be a special book, so I went out and got the next two books in the series and now I’m quite eager to start them, but need to pace myself…I’m not quite ready for too many emotional reads in a row! But I will be reading them soon! And then I’ll be tackling the rest of Fredrik Backman’s work because I’ve only read one other of his books and now I need to read them all!
Books in this series:
- Beartown
- Us Against You
- The Winners
