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Beartown: A Novel (Beartown Series) Paperback – February 6, 2018

by Fredrik Backman (Author)

4.5 51,351 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Beartown

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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.

Book 1 of 3

Beartown
Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Atria Books
Publication date

February 6, 2018
Dimensions

5.31 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

150116077X
ISBN-13

978-1501160776
Lexile measure

840L
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Get to know this book

What's it about?
A small town's junior ice hockey team competes in the national semi-finals, and their hopes and dreams rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Amazon editors say...
A past-its-prime town pins its hopes of revival on its junior hockey team in another heartfelt novel by Fredrik Backman.
Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Popular highlight
Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone who’s freezing.
6,981 Kindle readers highlighted this
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If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway.
6,757 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes much easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn’t through love, because love is hard. It makes demands. Hate is simple.
6,577 Kindle readers highlighted this
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It doesn’t take a lot to be able to let go of your child. It takes everything.
4,467 Kindle readers highlighted this
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“The only thing the sport gives us are moments. But what the hell is life, Peter, apart from moments?”
3,671 Kindle readers highlighted this

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR BEARTOWN

"Compelling characters and a wrenching story, beautifully told." ― The New York Times Book Review

“Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic. . . There are scenes that bring tears, scenes of gut-wrenching despair, and moments of sly humor. . .Like Friday Night Lights, this is about more than youth sports; it's part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman's latest will resonate a long time.” ― Kirkus Reviews

“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.” ― Publishers Weekly

“The sentimentally savvy Backman...takes a sobering and solemn look at the ways alienation and acceptance, ethics and emotions nearly destroy a small town and young people.” ― Booklist

"[A] slow burn of a novel about a community that pours all its hopes into a youth hockey team. Think Friday Night Lights for Swedes." ― O, The Oprah Magazine

"As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with Abba and Stieg Larssson." ― The New York Times Book Review

"Backman is the Dickens of our age, and though you'll cry, your heart is safe in his hands." ― Green Valley News (Arizona)

“There are, in the end, real acts of bravery and sacrifice in this appealing novel.” ― Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Backman cements his standing as a writer of astonishing depth and proves that he also has very broad range plus the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters. . . . The story is fully packed with wise insights into the human experience causing characters and readers to ponder life’s great question of who we are, what we hope to be and how we should lead our lives.” ― The Washington Times

“This novel was well worth reading, and I embrace what I learned from it.” ― The Missourian

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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books; Reprint edition (February 6, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 150116077X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501160776
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 840L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)
- #50 in Humorous Fiction
- #334 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 51,351 ratings

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Fredrik Backman

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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 two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime, as well as one work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. His books are published in more than forty countries. His next novel, Anxious People, will be published in September 2020. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand or on Instagram @Backmansk.

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Joe B

Great story by a great author

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2024

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Wonderful story. As an avid hockey fan all my life and someone who grew up in a hockey town, I absolutely loved this book. Even if I didn't like the sport of hockey, I would still have enjoyed reading it just as much. The realistic characters, the plot, and small town life, along with the background information about the art of coaching and the sport itself, all add up to making it a real classic. Backman is an amazing writer, but we already knew that.

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017

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This contemporary fiction / family drama has been a highly acclaimed bestseller in many countries. The message, clearly, resonates across the globe. It is relatable any place where there are 'haves and have nots,' or over achieving kids with overly competitive parents, or neglected kids, or over indulged kids, or loving parents, or great coaches, or tired teachers, or bullies and victims.

SUMMARY
The book opens with one teenager walking into the woods, pulling out a gun, pointing it at another teenager and pulling the trigger. The rest of the book explains the events leading up to this act.

The book takes place in a small town on the edge of a forest called Beartown. I'm not sure exactly where Beartown is supposed to be located, but I think it's Sweden. The town has a small competitive hockey club which provides a social life as well as a source of pride for the town. Actually, that's an understatement. This town doesn't have a lot going for it at the moment; the local factory has eliminated a lot of jobs, people are moving away, those who stay don't have many employment options and to some people, the club is everything.

The junior hockey team (made up of 16 and 17 years olds) is having an amazing season due, in large part, to their star player Kevin.

Their coach, David, has been grooming them since they were seven years old, training them to become the stars they are today.

Peter, a former Beartown Hockey star who made it to the NHL, returned to Beartown ten years ago with his family to serve as General Manager and turn the club into a national contender. Ten years of hard work has paid off and the team is about to play in they semi-finals for the junior NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

The town has so much riding on this. They are hoping that if they win the championship, the government will decide to build their new national training center in Beartown. Along with the training center would come more shopping, restaurants, commerce and JOBS. They NEED this. This is their time. The undefeated junior team just needs to make it through two more games.

But, as the reader knows, it's not going to be that simple. We know that something is about to happen which will culminate in one teenager pulling the trigger of a gun on another...

WHAT I LOVED
Wow!!! So much to love! How could you not be riveted by a book with an opening chapter like that? Every time a new character appeared in the book, or when two characters interacted, I obsessively over analyzed the circumstances, looking for clues as to whether or not these characters were involved in the opening scene. Trying to determine if they were the one pointing the gun or the one with the gun pointed at them. Each slight made me read too much into the offended persons reaction. Would that be enough to trigger a tragic chain of events? I couldn't stop theorizing. I needed to know.

I loved the setting; a snowy small town somewhere very far north. I both loved and hated that the country was never officially named. Loved because it gave me yet another thing to obsess over and hated because I never could get a straight answer.

The book cover was LOVELY! The picture of the frozen lake and surrounding town was just what I imagined.

I loved the narrative style. It was almost as if the story was being told orally, from the memory of an observer, with little snippets of wisdom and knowledge of future events which the narrator had witnessed.

The characters were to compelling. They all had so many dimensions. There were several characters I was ready to write off as total 'bad seeds' in their first couple of appearances, who later redeemed themselves. On the flip side, some who initially seemed quite decent disappointed me.

Benji and his family were very interesting; I loved how they very loudly loved each other while simultaneously calling each other out on bad behavior. They were all up in each other's business, they were always cramming themselves into small spaces so they could be together. On the polar opposite is Kevin's family. Cold, controlled, uninvolved. His parents started leaving him alone overnight when he was like twelve years old!! What the heck!!! On the outside, it looked like Kevin had everything; money and every advantage money could buy, intelligence and an excessive amount of talent. But did he really have more than Benji?

There is so much to love in this book, I could go on for days, but I won't.

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE
Too much hockey detail for me. I'm not anti-hockey, I'm just not obsessed. I understand the author was trying to create a feeling of an entire town living, eating, breathing hockey but it was too much for me. I get being in a town that loves its sports. I live in Texas. It's what we do. I felt like he could have created the feeling in fewer words.

OVERALL
A great book. Touches on my many important topics.

29 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

superlative read

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2024

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I’ve been reading mediocre books lately. This story took off like a rocket. Great writing. Complex characters and points of view. Truly one of the better books I’ve read in a couple three years. I want to read the next part!

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

I grew up in a small hockey town and could relate to it. But you don’t need to know hockey to know good writing and a great story. Well told. Could not put this down.

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Darren M. Reed

Gripping story of life in a small town.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

Verified Purchase

First, I don’t give out 5 stars often. When I do it’s a book I tell everyone about and want them to read…

What an amazing story of life in a small town. This is about life in a small town and how living in small towns often revolve around the local sports team. I live in Minnesota. In the United States we are known as the State of Hockey. This story could be based in the towns near where I grew up. In Beartown, the only thing that matters is the “club” The Hockey Club has leagues for the little kids up to juniors (15 to 18 years old) and the A team (which is like a minor league team). This story is so rich in narrative and character development. You feel like you personally know the players and members of the community. For those that are from a hockey community you will know people that are depicted in this book.

This is a must read. I was a little apprehensive at first (even though it has excellent ratings) mainly because it is not my normal psychological suspense / thriller novel. I am so glad I did, and you will be too. The emotions I had in this story were intense.

This is part of the description on the books jacket: “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.”

For me what makes this story great is the accuracy. What happens in this story is what happens EVERYWHERE in the world. How you view the situation only depends on what side you are on…

Kevin is the super elite youth hockey star his friend Benji is Kevin’s best friend and the protector of Kevin on the ice (the enforcer). And like many towns and cities the elite can get away with almost anything.

Such a powerful story that unfortunately many communities have lived through.

I did not know this was a trilogy until I finished the book. I am grateful so that I can return to Beartown and continue in their story.

SPOILER ALERT:

After a very detailed background on the main characters in this story the team scores a huge victory in their penultimate game. Their next game is the country's final. A victory in that game means the creation of a hockey Academy in the town possibly a mall other shopping centers maybe even and airport. however, after the celebration the team's superstar Kevin sexually assaults the team GM’s daughter Maya.

At first Maya remains quiet. Until the day the team is set to leave for the championship game. The police pull Kevin off the team bus in front of the entire town and chaos ensues. Once townsfolk hear for the accusation. Sides form. Maya becomes the monster and Kevin the victim. You are either with the club or you are an enemy.

8 people found this helpful

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Kathy Dalton

I wish it had a trigger warning

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2024

Verified Purchase

Beautiful writing. A hard story to get through. I had to put it down for a few days after I read about the rape. I wish it had had a trigger warning.

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024

Verified Purchase

At times in the book, I was hoping that the junior team lost the semi final game so the
story would end. At other times, I could not wait until I read the next page. The character development was quite good and the plot was believable.

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MaggieMaeReadsBooks

Go Pick this Up NOW

Reviewed in Canada on September 24, 2022

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Beartown by Fredrik Backman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This has solidified my opinion that Fredrik Backman is truly a favourite author for me.
He has a way with creating characters you can’t help but love and also making you feel very seen with all the relateable quotes about how hard day to day life can be.
Beartown is a hockey community. Beartown has been falling apart year after year. The economy dwindling and jobs becoming scarce. The town believes the Junior hockey team is the best the town has seen in years. The community is riding on teenagers to help bring more business and attention to the town by winning the in the finals. But when an act of violence happens that leaves a young girl traumatized and the whole town in conflict. With no one wanting to believe her story because that would mean the end of this chance. The whole town is left affected from this tragedy.
I truly loved reading this book. It is a hard one to read, and please check trigger warnings if you are sensitive to topics such as these.
Don’t let the slow beginning fool you. At some point this book will be impossible to put down. Most of the characters in this book will make you fall in love and just want the protect them from the harsh realities they are going through. Backman really showed how a sport can bring people together regardless of the circumstances.
I personally truly connected with this book as it focussed on the Hockey community. I played Ringette growing up (similar to hockey but not really) and I got to see the good and the ugly of the community. The community would band together with the best intentions even when it was the wrong thing to do.
I can’t wait to continue to read the next books in the series. And follow these characters on their next adventures.

One person found this helpful

Christine Frecia

We are the Bears from Beartown!

Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 28, 2023

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Beautifully written! Never played hockey and never knew the rules but I don’t need to to appreciate this book! Unexpected twists and turns. Wealth of beautiful life lessons inside.

André Martins

Ótimo livro.

Reviewed in Brazil on July 11, 2019

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Aborda temas importantes usando a temática do esporte.
Li em dois ou três dias. Recomendo o livro e também sua continuação "Us Against You".

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Geraldine

sport come metafora di vita..bel libro e ben scritto

Reviewed in Italy on December 13, 2018

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Ho amato moltissimo questo libro. L'ho letto in lingua originale: una scrittura asciutta e incisiva che arriva dritta al punto ed è facile da comprendere (per contro ho voluto leggere un estratto del primo capitolo in italiano e la traduzione è davvero terribile non c'è paragone) una storia interessante dove il tema centrale (la valenza dello sport/hockey in questo caso) diventa una scusa riflettere in modo altrettanto profondo su tante altre tematiche alle quali personalmente mi sono sentita molto vicina. I rapporti fra le persone, il mondo degli adolescenti, l'emarginazione/discriminazione, il valore dei principi, l'importanza della famiglia, gli equilibri di coppia. Insomma non è un tema nuovo..lo sport come una sorta di metafora della vita, però devo dire che il libro si legge volentieri anche se non si è appassionati di sport perché i personaggi sono interessanti e ben delineati e la storia ha un senso compiuto. Bello.

3 people found this helpful

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ダン・ケニー

best

Reviewed in Japan on January 15, 2024

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