Until I muster a true review…. 

“This hurts too much to touch with words.”

Of all the book mail I have (*gratefully*) received this year, it’s fair to say this #gifted copy from @atriabooks is my favorite.  As soon as it arrived, I cleared my schedule and lost myself (one last time) in the world of Beartown.  

It was like being embraced by an old friend.  A reunion that was a true comfort to the deepest recesses of the soul.

I could’ve easily devoured this book (all 673 pages!). But instead, I savored it.  Every morsel.  The rivalries, the friendships, the two towns, and, of course, the hockey.  Slowly.  Steadily.  

It’s the end of the series after all.  A heart can’t process both the immense joy of a long awaited return and the overwhelming grief of a definitive end too quickly.    

Since closing the last page (weeks ago, I might add), this book has filled my soul with a multitude of complex emotion… longing, hope, grief, joy. Most important, joy. 

Backman’s books always leave me changed, in both big and small ways. Broken yet mended. And always better than when I started. 

The Winners managed to do that in an even more robust and powerful way.

A small, isolated town deep in a big forest inhabited by complex people living ordinary lives. It sounds so simple.  Yet it’s everything.  

Oh but the review… it continues to go unwritten.  Mere words fail.  The English language falls short.   

Where my words wane, Backman’s do not.  Simply put… read this book.