From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

Beartown (Beartown, #1)

Fredrik Backman,

Neil Smith (Translator)

Start date: January 1, 2018

Finish date: January 30, 2018

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: January: Gender Stereotypes.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
[close] January: Gender Stereotypes.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 74 topics — 1,387 comments total

Monthly Group Reads

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (June 2021)
By Mariah Roze · 7 posts · 65 views

last updated Feb 12, 2024 09:45AM

The Help (March 2023)
By Mariah Roze · 4 posts · 22 views

last updated Mar 06, 2023 09:46AM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 04, 2017 Toni FGMAMTC rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, sweden, best-2017

This book is a tough one. It's one of those I'll be thinking about for a long time to come. Beartown is a hockey town. Hockey is really the only thing the town has. It's dwindling. Jobs are scarce. The weather is bad. Having a winning hockey team will bring money in. It's the only hope. The politics of who runs the teams is complicated. The great players aren't average citizens. Those kids carry the pressure and the prestige. After one night of mistakes, everyone is affected. It's horrible. You ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 09, 2018 Nanci rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, series

I really enjoyed "A Man Called Ove", so when I saw this book at my library, I quickly grabbed it off the shelf. I knew from the cover and jacket synopsis that it was going to be very different from "Ove". That alone enticed me as I love to read books by the same author to see a different part of their talent shine in a different setting.

This couldn't have been more different than "Ove". Other than both having the location of Sweden, the stories were totally unrelated. Here enters the difficult I really enjoyed "A Man Called Ove", so when I saw this book at my library, I quickly grabbed it off the shelf. I knew from the cover and jacket synopsis that it was going to be very different from "Ove". That alone enticed me as I love to read books by the same author to see a different part of their talent shine in a different setting.

This couldn't have been more different than "Ove". Other than both having the location of Sweden, the stories were totally unrelated. Here enters the difficulty. With "Ove" the author hooked me right from the beginning. There was a certain melancholy tone to "Ove", but even with that slower rhythm and cadence I found myself not wanting to put it down from the very start. An author who can accomplish such a feat when it's not a suspenseful book, is talented in my view.

When I started "Beartown" I didn't get that "Ooh, this is another good one, that I won't want to put down" feeling at all. Instead I struggled through it for the first 150 pages or so. There was just so much hockey talk! I get that the setting needs to be understood to be a town that's crazy for hockey, but it just seemed to go on and on and on.

I dated a college hockey player at a very large university for about a year, so I know hockey pretty much upside down and inside out. It's actually one of my favorite spectator sports, but the book was just too heavy on the hockey talk, when I was dying for the characters to develop.

I was really thinking this will be 3 stars and then, BAM! (as the author is fond of saying) along comes the story I had been hoping would materialize. Without the long, slow start this would have been a solid 4.5 stars. If you have the patience, I suggest you give this one a go, as I really enjoyed the second half.

I'm not a fan of series, and might not have read it had I known there was a sequel. I liked some of the characters very much, but I doubt I'll read the sequel; especially since a few reviewers have said it starts off very slow.

Note: Backman's other novel "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry" garnered 3 stars from me. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 19, 2024 Susan Bazzett-Griffith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: great-fiction-and-not-great-fiction

Fell totally in love with the characters who live in Beartown, and while I don't care about hockey in the slightest, I was a fan while I read this beautiful book about family and friendship and navigating the aftermath of a hideous crime. Immediately downloaded the sequel, and ok- I've finally become a Backman reader-- suspect I'll read a lot of his books this summer. Highly recommended- couldn't put it down. Five stars ...more

1 like · Like · see review