REVIEW: Beartown by Fredrik Backman] 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beartown will break you. If you’ve ever been in a place where you’ve needed to choose a side because holding 2 thoughts in your head at the same time is hard, you’ll fall for the story in this enthralling novel.

The themes and lessons in this book are so well written, set in a remote hockey town. I found myself remembering what life was like when I was 15, and Fredrik Backman] was spot on in all of his relationships and character arcs. 

I loved the writing style that included philosophical-esque questions which tied into multiple story arcs. Themes included: good vs evil, speaking up vs staying silent, hockey vs humanity and more. I especially loved the discussion of “Community. Values. Culture.” Culture being “what we encourage and what we permit.”

I also thought the paragraph on page 147 about hockey and life was CHILLINGLY good:

“We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the very best scenario, is incomprehensible meager and worthless; just a few isolated moments of transcendence. That’s all. But what the hell else is life made of?”

I can’t recommend this book enough - it should be required reading for all teenagers and parents. 

I read this book when it was first published, and I wanted to re-read it because I haven’t read the 2nd book in the series and the 3rd was just recently published. I’m so glad I spent some time for a re-read, as this book is an absolute treasure.

@simonandschuster @atriabooks 
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