Beartown

by Fredrik Backman

[Lianne]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at my blog, eclectic tales: http://eclectictales.insanitysandwich.com/blog/2017/04/24/review-beartown/

Beartown really drew me into the story from the first page from the story of the various inhabitants of the town to Backman’s narrative. There’s just so much going on in this novel: on the outset the story is about a hockey town and how hockey is more or less the only thing that’s keeping the inhabitants going as it’s a pretty outback town where unemployment is rising and it’s more or less dead-end. Hockey permeates through the plot and many of the characters’ motivations and characterisations, but it’s never boring, even if you’re not a fan of hockey or not familiar with the sport; coming from a city where hockey is the sport, I understand much of the sentiments coming from this town.

But underneath the hockey and the teams’ goals to reach the nationals is a far more nuanced look at town life, of the community politics, of parenthood and children and growing up, of friendships and loyalties, of gender politics. The latter becomes especially prominent as the story goes on as the novel starts off looking more at the former themes that I mentioned; it still plays a role with all of the characters as the story moves on but gender does come to the forefront. It’s heartbreaking reading the aftermath and the fallout, both from the victim’s perspective of coping to the parents’ inability to do much, much as they want to.

I don’t want to type more as that would mean typing into spoiler terrain, but suffice to say Beartown was an absorbing read. I grew to care for many of the town inhabitants and characters that the reader follows throughout the story (not all of them, there were a few that I could care less, but they played a role in the story and the perspectives presented). Thematically it touched on very important topics.