Beartown: The perfect winter read
As the weather becomes colder, the world becomes still. We can no longer take advantage of beautiful, sunny days to partake in summer’s outlandish and outgoing activities. Instead of parasailing, we draw a warm bath. Where we would cliff jump near rapids, we now shut the doors and sip hot chocolate.
Some may view winter and its mundane affairs as dark and under-stimulating, but I prefer these small moments: the expression on a loved one’s face after opening a gift, the huddling of two freezing victims walking through streets morphed into a tundra, the quiet nights where your friends talk near a heated fire, and the serenity of watching snow fall out a window.
Winter, a season of little moments, makes the world feel more intimate—more human. Little moments harbor more importance than perceived, like how a snowflake is underestimated when falling from the sky. What is snow apart from snowflakes? Author Fredrik Backman echoes this sentiment in his book Beartown “What the hell is life… apart from moments?”
Juxtaposing with many mammals, my hibernation of reading occurs in the summer months as I find it easier to immerse myself in books when the world is quiet. With that said, I’d like to formally introduce a novel that perfectly encapsulates winter—from its aesthetic and climate to the intricacies of the “little moments.”
Beartown, written by Fredrik Backman, is about a small, dying, frozen town that relies on hockey for its warmth. Due to its isolated and harsh climate, Beartown has little to offer economically aside from a small hockey team of teenagers living in their skates. All is well until a secret comes out that shatters reality, an event that divides an entire community and forces our characters to question what holds importance in life.
The complexities in the conflict will frustrate you in the best way, encouraging the impulse to hurl the book at a wall and then regret damaging an art so masterfully written. Backman is an incredible writer whose wit and simple prose will make your heart laugh, shatter, and recover all through the power of his words. You’d think a perspective change with a roster of multiple characters would bore a reader, but all the characters are fleshed out and feel incredibly realistic, written as if Backman has been living with them his entire life. However, without spoiling, I suggest that those with triggers look into those associated with this event before reading: body image, mortality, guns, homophobia, rape, suicide, and violence.
On the surface, the book is about hockey, but it isn't about hockey; as someone with zero interest in the sport, I can vouch and say that you don’t need any knowledge or experience with it to enjoy the story presented. I didn’t expect much when I first read about the everyday lives of townspeople living in a sheltered, snowy community, yet the transition to caring about the characters was so seamless that I can’t pinpoint where it happened; seeing how everyone reacted when Beartown split in half was incredibly intriguing.
So, if this hasn’t convinced you already, you need to check out the Beartown series by Fredrik Backman!
Thumbnail Photo of Beartown Author courtesy of WikiMedia Commons