Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Beartown

Wow. This book. I knew I'd love it before I even started it, but I didn't know exactly how much.

Beartown is a hockey town at its core, but the entire place will be shaken when one of their hockey stars commits a violent act. It is both unsurprising and shocking how far people go to protect a 17-year-old "boy" from the consequences of his own actions while placing the blame on a 15-year-old "young woman." How each person responds to the incident shows who they are, how they operate, and where their priorities truly lie.

Backman has a way of pulling you into a story, and Beartown is no different. Written in third person with multiple POVs, Backman weaves a narrative that flows effortlessly between characters without missing a beat. His writing is one of my favorites, and I will definitely be picking up book #2 sooner rather than later.

This novel is about so much more than a hockey town. It's about community, loyalty, and love. Between these pages are life lessons you will carry with you forever.

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FAVORITE QUOTES:

"Why does anyone care about hockey? Because it tells stories."

"That's both a big and small thing. Knowing that there are people who will never abandon you."

"All adults have days when we feel completely drained. When we no longer know quite what we spend so much time fighting for, when reality and everyday worries overwhelm us and we wonder how much longer we're going to be able to carry on. The wonderful thing is that we can all live through far more days like this without breaking than we think. The terrible thing is that we never know exactly how many."

"We become what we are told."

"'And what do we want, Ramona? What can this sport give us? We devote our whole lives to it, and what can we hope to get, at best? A few moments . . . a few victories, a few seconds when we feel bigger than we really are, a few isolated opportunities to imagine that we're . . . immortal. And it's a lie. It isn't really important.' ... 'The only thing sport gives us are moments. But what the hell is life, Peter, apart from moments?'"

"Hockey is just a silly little game. We devote year after year to it without ever really hoping to get anything in return. We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the very best scenario, is incomprehensibly meager and worthless: just a few isolated moments of transcendence. That's all. But what the hell else is life made of?"

"It's just as easy to be exclusive as it is to be inclusive, just as easy to create an Us as a Them."

"Words are not small things."

"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."

"What is a community? It is the sum total of our choices."

"'You have to switch off your brain in order to play it. Music is like taking a break from yourself.'"

"'It's never your fault, is it? When are you going to admit that it isn't "hockey" that raises these boys, it's YOU LOT? In every time and every place, I've come across men who blame their own stupidity on the crap they themselves have invented. "Religion causes wars," "guns kill people," it's all the same old bullshit! ... Fucking men! YOU'RE the problem. Religion doesn't fight, guns don't kill, and you need to be very fucking clear that hockey has never raped anyone! But do you know who do? Fight and kill and rape? ... MEN! It's always fucking men.'"

"'You've never been alone. You just need to be better at choosing the company you keep.'"

"It's easy for them to judge him--it's always easier to lecture people about morality when you've never had to answer for anything yourself."

Content Warnings