Beartown

 

“Beartown” by Fredrik Backman

Published by Washington Square Press

Finished 1/22/23 – 4 stars

 

This book has a definite “before half” and “after half”, with a major event in the middle.  Those halves feel like two different books.  The first half is slower, filled with lots of character development, then the second half is more deep and thought provoking.  The story takes place in a small town where lives are centered around hockey so I can imagine that anyone who doesn’t like hockey (or sports in general) might not enjoy it as much.  But if you take away the sport itself and focus on the family and team relationships, the pressure to perform, the bullying and cult like fandom….there are quite a number of fascinating dynamics taking place.  You’ll realize that the book isn’t actually about hockey.

 

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