Hey all!! Mondays are for literary fiction !! Today I will be doing a book review on a book called Beartown, written by a Swedish author, Fredrik Backman!

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever-encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; Translation edition (April 25, 2017)
• Language: English
• Genre:- Sports Fiction

Fredrik Backman, a blogger and columnist, is the New York Times bestselling author of A MAN CALLED OVE and MY GRANDMOTHER ASKED ME TO TELL YOU SHE’S SORRY. Both were number one bestsellers in his native Sweden and around the world, and are being published in more than thirty five territories. His latest novel is BRITT-MARIE WAS HERE. He lives in Stockholm with his wife and two children.

First of all, I wanted to read one of his bestseller books A Man Called Ove but I found this book, written by the same author and bought the book instead. Beartown is about a story of a small town where a junior hockey team is preparing for the national hockey championship. The small town has high hopes on the team but a tragic incident changed the town forever.

Now I will outline the things that I really like about this book.

P.S. SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!! If you haven’t read the book then refrain from reading it!!!

• The book is emotional and sad and truthfully, the author has written the book in a realistic situation. A young girl was raped by a teenage boy who was a hockey champion and the fact that the whole town taking side of the boy instead of showing support to the girl is extremely sad and emotional. Truthfully, in reality, that is what actually happens–if a woman gets raped, the fault is found on the victim and not the rapist.
• The book is well written, making the reader feel engrossed into the novel. You will feel as if you are a part of that Beartown community.
• I don’t know very much about hockey so this book actually helped me to know more about ice hockey. I have been a swimming champion once so I know what is it really like when you are under pressure of winning an event.
• The book is somewhat written in a different way, compared to the novels I have read so this book is actually unique in a way. In each chapter, it begins with some sort of advice or labeling out a real situation. Towards the end of the chapter, the author briefly outlines what each of the characters will face in ten years’ time.
• Overall, this book is an enjoyable to read, engrossing and emotional as well. I know this book is written in Swedish and is translated into English but still I really like the form of writing.

Things I don’t like…basically nothing!

Overall I rate this book as five stars!