A review by sarahrahrah
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I went into reading this knowing nothing about it, other than having seen lots of praise and recommendations for it. It right away starts the intrigue with the short chapter one and the "this is the story of how we got there," and then goes on to develop the town and characters and explain all the various aspects of living in a "hockey town". Because of that first chapter, I assumed that the "violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil" from the back blurb was about someone killing someone else with a shotgun. Even though Backman does a phenomenal job of hinting at what's coming through the character development and locker room culture, I was still unprepared for when
Kevin rapes Maya
and emotionally had a hard time continuing to read after that moment. But all in all it was a fantastic book with lots of interesting themes and thoughts about the human experience wrapped up in an interesting story about a small hockey town.
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