"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."

i don't like hockey, nor have i ever been interested in hockey in my nineteen years of living. i cried over this damn hockey book more than i've cried over anything in my life.

beartown is phenomenal, and so inexplicably human. reading this brought me a lot of closure. i saw a lot of myself in maya, and the way backman dealt with what she went through made me feel heard, and most of all: seen.

there isn't a lot of literature that deals with rape in the way that beartown does. above all, i felt like he understood. he knows what victims go through. the guilt and turmoil and doubt of never doing the right thing or being enough. fredrik backman, thank you for understanding.

heavy things aside, the way the characters are written is nothing short of wonderful. they all feel real. like someone you've met or will meet in your lifetime. none of the characters are one dimensional. they do things that real people do. they make mistakes, change, and overcome. and the people that don't deserve to overcome, get what they deserve.

this book is going to stay with me forever. i can't wait to finish the trilogy.