Beartown has been a pretty buzzed about book since its release, all because of Fredrick Backman's previously best-selling title A Man Called Ove. I haven't read A Man Called Ove, but I did try one of his other books "My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry" and I couldn't get into it. But the reason I wanted to try Beartown is because it's about a small-town hockey based community where the hockey club and the sport are the community's main drive, focus, and source of hope for the future. Being from a small-town, hat concept appealed to me.

If you like Fredrick Backman and you like his writing, then you'll probably like Beartown. The writing itself is good and Backman does do an excellent job portraying the characters. He makes sure there is plenty of detail and depth so that as a reader you can feel the emotions of each character and develop an empathetic understanding of them. What I didn't like is that there are way too many characters. This book isn't about just one or two hockey families - it's about an entire community and all of the different stakeholders that have an interest and investment in the hockey club. From the bar owner to the grocery store manager, to the families of several hockey players and the club manager. There was so much to keep straight so it took me a long time to get into it because I was struggling to do that.

If you have a short attention span and enjoy a novel that is written as a complicated cobweb where characters and plot are tied together in a complex, non-linear way, then I think you will also like this novel. While there is a main story line that progresses logically, the majority of the writing switches perspectives constantly. From paragraph to paragraph, you are looking at a different character from the omnipresent point of view because you have full access to the thoughts and emotions of all characters in the story, which as I said before is A LOT of characters! So it was just really difficult for me to keep it all straight and therefore I did not enjoy the writing style.

The story line did keep me interested and I was caught up in the main story with a few of the major characters, such as Maya, Kira, Kevin, Amat, and Peter. But there really was a lot going on in the book. Now, timing does play a role in reading and because I've had a lot going on in my personal/professional life it just might not have been the right time to read this book. Most of my reading has had to be in small spurts and times where I am easily interrupted which could be part of the reason why I've had trouble with it.

If you like mainstream fiction, you have an interest in Backman's books and this type of writing style, and can relate to a small-town hockey community then I would suggest this sweet read to you.