Beartown

By Fredrik Backman

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 150116077X
• ISBN13: 9781501160776
• Release Date: February 2018
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Condition of book not as stated

Purchased a book in very good condition and it was not. The endpapers were ripped out and the book is in rough condition

I loved this book!

Read this if you enjoy what I like to call "real life" fiction. The multiple POV really allows you to open perspective on the town itself, and it's residents. Or maybe it was just easy for me to connect, because I also grew up in a small town where it seemed sports were all that mattered? I'll make my point though, if you like this book, buy the second one, because I loved it more.

Loved it

I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, the plot, and the ending. The writing style didn’t annoy me like in Anxious People. Beartown is 2nd best behind A Man called Ove

the Friday Night Lights of hockey

An intense read of underdogs, denial, scandals, desperation, and protecting those you love at any cost. The Friday Night Lights of hockey. I had a hard time putting it down.

Different - but good!

When I started this book, I wasn’t sure how I would like it. Determining who was talking was confusing at first because of the amount of characters there were. When I focused on remembering who they all were, the book got better and better. It really kept my interest and you learned so much about each person. I would read it again.