Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Reviewed by Jeanne

 Beartown is a small community whose ice hockey A-team was second in the nation about twenty years ago, but still carries the pride of those days. One member of that team even went to play in Canada in the NHL for a while.  Now, with jobs dwindling and no tourism or industry—or as one character puts it all they have is “darkness, cold, and unemployment”-- Beartown once again has pinned its hopes on ice hockey.  They have a great team, a team that might just make it into the championship round and bring a new rink, new training facilities, and new life to Beartown.

Then there is an incident which tears the town and the team apart.  Can Beartown survive?

I may have mentioned a time or twelve that I love Book Bingo because it encourages me to read books I might not pick up otherwise.  That was the case with the first Backman book I read, A Man Called Ove (and which I loved) and so it was with the second when the square told me to read a book about sports.  I don’t hate sports, I just don’t know that I like to read about them all that much.  And then I remembered that Backman’s Beartown was about ice hockey.

Well, it is.  And it isn’t.

Backman has a deep understanding of his characters and is an artist at revealing them to the reader, giving each one multiple layers and facets.  There’s a full cast here indeed:  Peter, the former champion, who has returned home to help the town win again, bringing with him his attorney wife and two children, bright Maya and her younger brother, Leo; Kevin, the new golden boy who may bring glory to the town; Sune, the old man who has coached the A-team for decades but who knows that he’s going to be pushed out; and Amat, whose mother immigrated to Beartown and works as a cleaner so that her son can have a better life and play this game that he loves with all his heart and soul.  There are numerous other supporting characters who can seem overwhelming at first, but they all have important roles to play in the drama. 

What I love about Backman’s writing is that his characters aren’t often predictable.  Some who seem unlikable at first may emerge as heroes while the seemingly sympathetic person turns out to care more for his own agenda than for the greater good.

More than anything, this is an examination of human character and society and made a much greater impression on me than I would have imagined.  There are some things that I may quibble with—Backman likes to leap forward to the future and occasionally tantalize his audience with hints of what happened to a character—but I also have to admit those make for memorable impressions.

If you like tough stories well told, peopled by fully developed characters, moments when you will cringe and cheer, and an exploration of both the light and dark in human beings, then by all means pick up Beartown.  You may even want to try the sequel, Us Against You, which continues the story of some of the characters.  A third book is in the works.

And I don’t know beans about hockey.

Nevermore: James Baldwin, Nabokov, Night Visitor, Rust & Stardust, and Ove

Reported by Ambrea

One of our Nevermore readers decided to jump back into the works of James Baldwin by reading both Giovanni’s Room and The Fire Next Time. In Giovanni’s Room, Baldwin tells the story of David, a young, bisexual American man, who is living in Paris and begins an affair with an Italian bartender named Giovanni. Our reader, who is an avid fan of James Baldwin, said she enjoyed reading Giovanni’s Room immensely. She thought it was “just a wonderful book” that offered an intimate and heart-wrenching look at the struggles of a person who was homosexual/bisexual. As always with Baldwin, his book was very well-written and poignant, and she highly recommended it to her fellow readers.

Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time is a semi-autobiographical novel about the emerging civil rights movement during the 1960s.  Described on the back cover as “a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice,” The Fire Next Time is poignant and empowering book that hits hard with its beautiful prose and uncompromising view of racism.  Our reader really enjoyed Baldwin’s novel, saying it was “such a good book.”  She said it’s a searing book that does a magnificent job illustrating the dynamics and tensions between Americans, both black and white, and the growth of the civil rights movement.

Next, Nevermore shared The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins.  Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to make her dreams come true.  Now with a grand career as a TV presenter and historian, three children, and a wonderful husband, her life is perfect—or merely seems so.  Olivia’s life is built on lies and Vivian Tester, a socially awkward, middle-aged housekeeper in Sussex, knows the truth.  Mixed with drama, suspense, hints of folklore and horror, Atkins’ novel presents an interesting story; however, our reader found it lacking when it came to the concluding chapters.  She speculates the author will follow up with a sequel to wrap up all those loose ends, which may redeem the ending of The Night Visitor.

Keeping in the vein of “creepy reads,” Nevermore explored Rust and Stardust by T. Greenwood.  In Camden, New Jersey, in 1948, Sally Horner was eleven years old and victim of Frank LaSalle, a middle aged man fresh out of prison.  Inspired by true events, Sally’s harrowing story is chronicled in both Greenwood’s latest novel—and Vladimer Nabokov’s most controversial and notable novels, Lolita.  Our reader said “it was such a sad story.”  While she liked that Greenwood takes an opposing perspective to Lolita—presenting Sally’s story, rather than Humbert Humbert—she found it disturbing and sad and creepy.

In an unexpected twist, one of our Nevermore readers revealed she had actually just finished reading Lolita.  Written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabakov, Lolita is the story of Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter, Dolores Haze—whom he calls “Lolita” in private.  Our reader had read Lolita many years ago and thought she would try again; however, she found she still didn’t like Nabakov’s novel.  Although praised as a classic and named one of the greatest works of the twentieth century, she said she couldn’t stand Humbert Humbert.  “It’s a weird book,” she told her fellow readers.  “And [Humbert] is such a sleazy guy.  He’s awful.”  She did not recommend it.

Last, Nevermore looked at Fredrik Backman’s debut novel, A Man Called Ove.  Ove is, at best, a curmudgeon.  Cranky, gifted with staunch principles and adhering to strict routines, Ove is a man with a short fuse—but Ove has an unexpected story and friendship to give.  After meeting his new neighbors, who accidentally run over his mail box, Ove’s life will be changed forever.  Our reader said she “liked it very much.”  Well-written, poignant, readable and relatable, A Man Called Ove was a lovely, feel-good novel that was just what the doctor ordered.  She highly recommended it to her fellow readers, especially those looking for something sweet and wonderful.

Nevermore: Bring Me Back, Restless Wave, Salt Lane, Dear Mrs. Bird, Us Against You

 Reported by Jeanne

Bring Me Back, a thriller by B. A. Paris, started off the Nevermore discussion this week. A dozen years have passed since Finn’s girlfriend Layla vanished at a rest stop and he was accused of her murder.  He was cleared and now he’s found happiness from an unlikely source:  Layla’s sister, Ellen. Not long after they become engaged, a mutual friend claims to have seen Layla, alive and well.  Items that had meaning to Layla begin to appear, and Finn has to wonder if Layla is still alive—or is someone playing a dangerous game?  Our reader was not happy with the resolution and wasn’t sure that she liked the characters.  

John McCain’s new book, The Restless Wave, was the next title discussed.  Our reviewer was quite impressed with it, saying that McCain expresses himself very well.  She felt the book and the man were both very inspirational. (Note:  this meeting was held before Senator McCain passed away.)

Salt Lane by William Shaw intrigued one of this week’s Nevermore attendees in part because of the strong setting:  the Kent coastline.  It’s quite a change for DS Alexandra Cupidi, who was transferred from the London Metropolitan police force to the sometimes stark countryside. While her teenage daughter Zoe finds solace in birdwatching, Alex is soon embroiled in a series of mysteries, starting with the discovery of a woman’s body in a drainage ditch.  Our reader enjoyed the book, and recommended it as a good, well-written mystery, with a strong sense of place.  

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce introduces us to Emmeline Lake, a bright and eager young woman anxious to do her part in the war effort.  In London, 1940, that ends up being a volunteer telephone operator for the Auxiliary Fire Services.  She longs to be a war correspondent and jumps at the opportunity to take a position at a newspaper.  To her great disappointment, she is assigned the task of being a typist for the paper’s advice columnist, the renowned Mrs. Bird.  Mrs. Bird has very strict standards, which includes tossing any letters that contain Unpleasantness—i.e., real problems, such as not wanting to have children evacuated or confessions of infidelity.  Emmy secretly begins to respond to those letters, trying to give advice and comfort. If you’re looking for a light, entertaining book, consider this debut novel.

Finally, a reviewer reported disappointment with Fredrik Backman’s Us Against You. This is the second book set in Beartown, an isolated Swedish village whose pride and joy is its hockey team.   An incident involving one of the junior players leaves the team’s continued existence in doubt, even as the rival team from Hed—made up of former Beartown players—readies for what might be the last game.  Us Against You picks up where the previous book, Beartown, left off, but can be read as a standalone because Backman supplies enough information for new readers. However, our reader said she found it to be repetitious and she wasn’t engaged by the characters.  She also noted she doesn’t particularly like hockey.