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
Title : Bear Town
I knew this is a good book when I bought it back in 2018, right after I moved to Seoul. But I don't know why I just put it in the cupboard and keep delaying read it. Maybe it is because the early printing comes with big and thick size. It was intimidating, I always have a reason to read something lighter.
And yes, Beartown is a strikingly beautiful state of the art.
For those who did not familiar with Backman's works, let me remind you about the sensational a Man called Ove. Before the grumpy man become an international bestseller, there was more down-to-earth work, Britt Marie was here.
Bringing the same sentiment, Bear Town is the perfection of a Man Called Ove.
There is an almost-abandoned-small city nestled in the deep of the forest, called Bear Town. The city is always dark and cold, only the strong one can manage to live in solitude and hard weather like that.
But Bear Town is almost awakening again because their junior hockey team won the semifinal and will have a final match next week.
Hockey is very important to the citizens of Beartown. It almost like a religion for them, not just monogamy hobby that everyone forced to love it. Thru hockey, they deposit big amount of hope. When their junior team won the final, it means the investor will come to the small city. They will build a new rink, a school to manage the talents. There will more people come, more cash coming and the city will be revitalized. That's why, the junior team is the only hope of the Beartown citizens and greedy investors.
Thru hockey, children from different social classes leave their original skin and fight in the name of the team. Children from hollow like Amat, a middle class like Benji up to the richest family in the city, Kevin, the perfect boy from a perfect family.
The Beartown hockey team once gave birth to the talented Peter who once has a bright career at NHL. But injury forces him to move back to Bear town along with his little family- the smart lawyer wife, Kira; the artistic daughter, Maya, and twelve years old Leo.
The bear blood inside Peter makes him love hockey more than anything, that's why when his former coach, Sune invites him to be the General Manager of a small hockey team, he accepted it.
Under his leadership, the team went to final, and of course with the help of Sune- A-team coach, David-once a rival- now Junior team coach, and the talented kids.
But night after the semifinal, everything that has been planned gone to astray. The big incident in the town not only made their final match unplanned but also test the limit of Beartown citizens for their love of hockey.
The Big incident affects directly to Peter and the talented boy Kevin, even until the poorest and fastest player, Amat.
The incident made them questioned their human nature. Their real identity for the sake of their future, and everyone's future in the town.
So many names involved. The Author feels like include everyone in the city, how's they are affected by hockey, and the incident. That's why at first it feels like a very slow pace at the start.
When I was reading the Incident, I closed the book immediately and stop reading it for two days. I was emotionally involved and too scare to read what happens next. I remember my heart pounding so fast and I am scared it will end up like Thirteen Reasons Why.
But the Author did gave a lot of elements of surprise in the slow-paced read. The point of view from each person involved beautifully described in the mundane activities. For example, the open window but a closed door. the love of coffee or drink invitation.
Beartown people may be cold people, but they know how to separate good and evil.
So many lessons learned we can get in this beautiful book. So many emotions and love. That's the reason why I give 5 stars out of 5 for this book. Start from the "consent matter', how to be a teammate, how us-community easily judge a person from their 'image', how we only believe what we want to believe, what a best friend means, the clash between society, bullying, grieving and many other topics that mixed deeply in a masterpiece.
That's why, I don't know why I keep delay myself to read this book even I knew it is a good back, maybe deep down, I am, as a society, not ready to be slapped in the face by a beautiful book like this.
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