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A review by bombalurina
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
How far are we willing to go to perpetuate a lie for the sake of winning? How much of our integrity are we willing to sacrifice to protect our own self interests? How much of a moral obligation do we bear for our silence?
These question among others are what Fredrik Backman’s Beartown asks us to consider.
Welcome to Beartown, a small town nestled in the heart of a forest where hockey is life. The hometown Bears are on the cusp of playing in the Finals, when a devastating event occurs that sets the town spinning on end, and forces the townspeople to question their morality based on the town’s ethics
I was totally immersed in this story from almost the beginning. I particularly liked the structure of the chapters. They weren’t devoted to revolving point of views; most were based on a certain theme with several character’s thoughts and actions pertaining to that theme The story carried a sense of foreboding along so that you were always cognizant of the fact that this town was sitting on a powder keg.
“Through the window of the cafeteria they see Maya and Ana go off down
road with the hockey players and their school friends. The temperature is falling rapidly in the darkness, and snow is swirling around the girls’ bo .dies.”
“There’s a storm brewing.”
This was very much a character driven story that brought to light said characters’ moral ambiguities. Hockey is not a complex sport until you attach greed and small town politics to it. Hockey or any sport should not take precedence over human pain and suffering, but yet you have people like Maggan Lyt who would rather add more shrapnel to a ticking bomb than try and help defuse it.
My favorite character by far was Benji Ovich, the angsty, tough but tender Bear’s defender. He is the wounded soul poet who needs the pain to thrive. He has a drive to fit in, but without compromising his principles. The most overlooked character in my opinion is Maya. Maya deserved so much more storyline in the second half to help flesh out her emotions. Instead I felt she went from “I’m going to do this and this” without any inner conflict, devoid of any real emotion that would move me as a reader to feel her pain.
“Through the window of the cafeteria they see Maya and Ana go off down
road with the hockey players and their school friends. The temperature is falling rapidly in the darkness, and snow is swirling around the girls’ bo .dies.”
“There’s a storm brewing.”
This was very much a character driven story that brought to light said characters’ moral ambiguities. Hockey is not a complex sport until you attach greed and small town politics to it. Hockey or any sport should not take precedence over human pain and suffering, but yet you have people like Maggan Lyt who would rather add more shrapnel to a ticking bomb than try and help defuse it.
My favorite character by far was Benji Ovich, the angsty, tough but tender Bear’s defender. He is the wounded soul poet who needs the pain to thrive. He has a drive to fit in, but without compromising his principles. The most overlooked character in my opinion is Maya. Maya deserved so much more storyline in the second half to help flesh out her emotions. Instead I felt she went from “I’m going to do this and this” without any inner conflict, devoid of any real emotion that would move me as a reader to feel her pain.
I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who likes stories involving hockey that are not slanted towards romance. Anyone who likes a character driven story that examines the human condition. 4 Stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape