I may seem calm in this review but this was nearly 24 hours after I repeated the ending too many times that I lost count, went ice skating, ran way into a forest, and fell in love with boys with sad eyes.

“The only time I’m not moving forward,
is when I’m taking aim.”

— overall thoughts: 4.5 —
⇢ content warnings//

Spoiler

Body image, Child mortality (flashback), Guns, Homophobia, Rape, Rape culture, Suicide (mentions), Suicidal thoughts, Victim blaming, Violence

⇢ representation: Gay main character, Immigrant main character (brown and from an unnamed, war-torn country)

If you like literary fiction within contemporary adult and teen realities with a focus on people getting together and bonding over a certain sport...in the cold... My gosh are you going to love this. (I am that kind of person). I’m not going to lie to you, I really did lose count of how many times I repeated the ending because of how hopeful it made me feel in the middle of a pandemic.

It was personally not a heavy read but it was definitely an emotional one, or maybe Backman is just an expert on making me feel things. The book puts a lot of light on the mental health of teenagers but also parents raising children at this time of their lives.

“There is a town in a forest that loves a game. There’s a girl sitting on a bed playing a guitar for best friend. There’s a young man sitting in a police station trying not to look scared. In a hallway in a hospital, a nurse passes a lawyer talking loudly into her cell phone. In the stands in an ice rink, in a capital city, grown men and women are on their feet, shouting that they are the bears from Beartown.”

The story is the camaraderie brought by a small town, passion for what you do, and what success truly means. Themes on family and community are very forefront, specifically how they live with both the small perfect imperfections and tragedies. This also means it tackles topics like grief and processing sexual assault, and victim blaming… among other things. I feel like I say that a lot with Backman books. ...AND I WAS THERE FOR ALL OF IT. He is just able to pack so many themes and discussions in a compressed story without it ever feeling like it's too much. It literally feels like you're living these people's lives.

I say: “Where are we from?”
You say: “BEARTOWNNNN!!”
*insert rink side crowd noises*


Essentially, the plot revolves around hockey and how it brings together these different people. As usual, that's all I think you should know about the plot. This isn't strictly labelled as a mystery but you are going to be left figuring out what led to that scene that happen on the very first page.

And to be honest: it's just good storytelling. I want to reread this book in a cabin in the cold woods.

“If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway. All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow. Do good anyway.”

Fredrik Backman’s writing style is consistent with the two workss I have read wherein he successfully weaves each character’s background into each other. Especially given the contained settings of the books, it does work really well in my opinion.

Anxious People was my first Backman book and while I loved everything about it, I found it a little difficult to connect with on a personal level. And although, these two books tackle somewhat similar themes, I was able to relate to Beartown more because it highlighted the relationships between people who have (mostly) known each other their whole lives rather than strangers who just met.

I am officially in love with how he builds up character relationships, dynamics, and developments. It gives me shivers. The book hooks you by telling you the peak of how everything ends but it feels too wild from where the story begins, so you're mind is left actively figuring out how all these seemingly simple plot points will build. I loved the depiction of the effect of sports on small towns, despite being a city girl, the rest of my family come from a province and this made me feel very nostalgic.

Where there is Backman, you will find: charming characters, no matter what background he gives them.

“Culture is as much what we encourage as what we permit.”

A significant part of the book discusses the mental downhill that someone who has been raped or sexually abused experience. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers but it was tackled extremely well in my opinion while still feeling realistic.

"What an uncomfortable, terrible, source of shame it is for the world, that the victim is often left with the most empathy for others."

Fredrik Backman’s technical skills in creative writing is on point. The repetitions of the “Beartown” chant make you feel like you’re actually part of this town yourself. It made me feel attached to everything that was going on. Not to mention how everything ties back so cleanly.

Out of the 2 books by this author that I have read, this one is my favorite and it might be difficult to beat, just because this story felt too much like it was written for me. If you need to know anything else about this book: cold, hockey, small towns, coming-of-age, friendships, bravery, family (it's the whole package as far as themes go).

I don't know what else to say. I was feeling all the emotions.

↣ Read this for a cold but cozy, heart wrenching but touching, and overall emotional story that will leave you feeling... optimistic? or rather: leave you looking forward to tomorrow while appreciating where you came from. ↢

“Never do you find friends like the ones you find when you were 15 years old.”

I thought about that quote longer than I care to admit.