Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Beartown (Beartown, #1) (edition 2017)by Fredrik Backman
Work InformationBeartown by Fredrik Backman
» 24 more Books Read in 2019 (202) Small Town Fiction (20) Books Read in 2021 (720) Top Five Books of 2018 (533) Books Read in 2018 (745) Five star books (437) Carole's List (226) Books Read in 2022 (2,979) FAB 2023 (8) Everand 2023 (20) READ in 2023 (90) To Read (125) Animals in the Title (283) Books Read in 2017 (4,254) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A Kurtis Reviewer calls Beartown a “Part coming of age saga, part study of social failure and finally a chronicle of groupthink…” I could not say it any better. Beartown is all things hockey. All. Things. But in Beartown the players are only males, there is no female club. As with all things where there is a gender divide and where so much weight is placed onto the thing divided, the egos are huge, the entitlement is enormous, and coverups in the name of the club, a known given. When the general manager’s daughter is raped by the star player of the Beartown hockey team, lines are drawn, conjectures formed, socioeconomics defined, and genders separated, read: if you were on the hockey team, you prevailed. Fredrik Backman masterfully describes the intricacies of how the herd mentality works, how the good-ole-boys club rules, and how even in today’s age, if you aren’t in the right group, no amount of truth, rightness, or witnesses will bring justice. Beartown is raw and difficult at many points. It brings to light how easy the disgusting, vile side of humans can boil to the surface, be it the child who commits the wrong, or the parent who defends them to the death, even when the truth is known. Beneath the major theme, runs many additional, equally as important themes that Backman weaves and fleshes out throughout the gentle, slow-pace that makes Beartown unputdownable. I do not regret the weekend I gave to it. Few novels deserve a MUST READ - Beartown is one of the few. Nearly abandoned due to too much sporting detail until the story developed and I realised how powerful this tale was. Reminded me a little of when I had to study Williamson’s play “The Club,” all those years ago, learning about the worst sides of sporting clubs. The small town, bigoted, win at all costs mentality is so well drawn here. This reminded me of why I loathe the jingoistic “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant and what it can symbolise. Nearly 4 stars but needed some editing to shorten the novel. Beartown tells the story of teenagers coming of age in a small Swedish town where ice hockey is the main pastime for the highschool players and the entire town who come to watch and cheer on the towns team. While the story was ok, particularly the class issues of the haves vs the have nots. I became bored with the detail with which the hockeygames were detailed. I would give this book 10 stars if I could. Wow. Just wow. I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain what makes this book so incredibly special. The story itself isn’t especially unique and the beginning does read a bit slow...but, wow, the writing is so emotional. Every sentence makes you feel like you’re that character experiencing all of it. The character development is great. I want to know more about all of them and yet I feel like I do know them. And everything feels so real...thoughts that the characters had, things that were said, how they were said, reactions to different events...it didn’t feel like a story, it felt like I was experiencing it all with real people. Wonderful, wonderful book and I look forward to reading more by this author.
The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove tells a poignant story of a hockey town paralyzed by scandal. Jobs are disappearing and Beartown is slowly dying, so for its citizens, hockey is everything. Backman asks, “Why does everyone care about hockey? Because hockey tells stories.” This is the story not just of hockey, but of a 15-year-old named Maya Andersson, whose father, Peter, the general manager of the hockey club, loves hockey, but loves his family more. Seventeen-year-old Kevin Erdahl is the star of Beartown, with a chance to go professional. One night, after a huge win, Maya goes to a raucous party at Kevin’s house and is thrilled at his attention, but things get out of hand, and what takes place changes Beartown forever. Lest readers think hockey is the star here, it’s Backman’s rich characters that steal the show, and his deft handling of tragedy and its effects on an insular town. While the story is dark at times, love, sacrifice, and the bonds of friendship and family shine through, ultimately offering hope and even redemption. Backman veers close to the saccharine, but readers may be too spellbound to notice. Belongs to SeriesBeartown (1) Is contained inAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Winning a junior ice hockey championship might not mean a lot to the average person, but it means everything to the residents of Beartown, a community slowly being eaten alive by unemployment and the surrounding wilderness. A victory like this would draw national attention to the ailing town: it could attract government funding and an influx of talented athletes who would choose Beartown over the big nearby cities. A victory like this would certainly mean everything to Amat, a short, scrawny teenager who is treated like an outcast everywhere but on the ice; to Kevin, a star player just on the cusp of securing his golden future in the NHL; and to Peter, their dedicated general manager whose own professional hockey career ended in tragedy. At first, it seems like the team might have a shot at fulfilling the dreams of their entire town. But one night at a drunken celebration following a key win, something happens between Kevin and the general manager's daughter--and the next day everything seems to have changed. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. With so much riding on the success of the team, the line between loyalty and betrayal becomes difficult to discern. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear. No library descriptions found.
|
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.73Literature German and related languages Other Germanic literatures Swedish literature Swedish fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
"Bear Town" is a book that is seemingly about hockey and a small town where that sport reigns supreme. A place where most of the residents see their glory days in high school and differences are mocked, not celebrated. A dying town that pins its hopes on the thought that one day the local team might just win a major championship.
The story could simply be read at the surface level, and still be a well-written and engaging tale. However, for me, the book was more a metaphor on a way of life. The danger of small-thinking and mob mentality. The shallowness of just "going with the flow." And the courage to speak truth, even knowing the unjust consequences that may follow.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )