Beartown

"Went back and listened to this audiobook after listening to the third in the series. Bear town is the first. Absolutely stunning book. It’s a well done audiobook as well. All about a hockey town and the people who live there. I am so invested in it that I’m often tearing up or laughing at the characters. That’s a good author! Now to read the second so I can complete the trilogy."

"This is my new favorite book. I will admit that I put off reading it in the early chapters because of some ominous foreshadowing that I did not want to read. But then I sat and read straight thru the back half of the book, so engrossed in the story. Read it! "

"Great plot, great writing but too much, too much of information about everything and everybody…at some point I just lost interest in the characters and the plot…I will not be continuing the series. "

"So many regrets… I regret waiting so long to read this. I regret not highlighting so many lines that I want to remember forever. It’s emotional, sometimes heavy, and all too human. So much love for the people in this story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"

"The amount of questions this book asked was immense and the beauty was that so many of them I still haven't been able to answer. This was a novel that asked the raw and hard questions about humanity. How many times in life do you not have the answers? How many times do you hate yourself as you walk away and do the wrong thing? Books aren't about the losers oftentimes they bring a version of humanity that you want to be even if there are just as many mediocre and distasteful people as there are true heroes. In Beartown you get a plethora of characters, and they range all over the moral spectrum. All of them are thrown into turmoil in different ways. Backman said some incredibly intelligent things about what it's like to be on a boys' sports team. Growing up myself I saw a less extreme version of what Beartown is and the social stereotypes that come with a small town. I think the difference in Beartown is when it came to hell or high water the important characters made the right choice. I don't think this happens in real life; how many people are bullied out of doing the right thing because they are paid off? How about choosing the easy choice instead of hurting everyone around them instead? This is a hard book, but you still feel hopeful after reading something like this. Maybe I'm too pessimistic but I couldn't help but feel devastated that this novel paints the exception to the rule and not the norm. I've been thinking about it all day. Maybe I'm just not as strong as the characters I love."

"Wonderfully engaging book. A really great storyline, intertwined characters with rich history to a community that gets divided. I felt tons of feelings through the characters; proud, sadness, heroic, bravery, loyalty…so good! "

"Maybe it's because I'm not a hockey fan and don't really like anything about it...I found this book ok. I like the way every character has their own story in detail...ending is ok though."

"I’ve got to give the townspeople some credit for their absolute dedication to reviving the community. But, it’s also the same thing that destroyed them. Might sound ridiculous, I knew it revolved around hockey but I wasn’t expecting it to be THIS hockey related. It felt like forever getting to the climax. It was pretty dragged out which is my main complaint. There are a few trigger warnings to this book which I feel like folks should know. TW: sexual assault and homophobia. It’s a gut wrenching read but the heart and soul in this book is very real. "

"Well written. Took a bit to get into with all of the hockey talk but with how it was described you start to understand why people become so enamored by the sport. Gets into all of the politics around it as well. Spoiler: loved to read about the survivour being able to live her dreams even after such a terrible event, her strength through it all was admirable."

"Too predictable, but the idea of the story was good"