
And now Beartown and all of its residents are divided. Most however, wear their hearts on their jerseys. Some of my favorite people, live in one of the most memorable of towns and they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 2/16/17. Fredrik Backman evokes it from each and every reader and here, he does so in a way that he has never done before. And I am truly honored and extremely grateful to have experienced it.Ī huge thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and the amazing Fredrik Backman for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. But the raw human emotion that is dripping from each and every page of this novel? You will all feel that. And if you know someone who plays? Well, you will understand the drive and the desire better than a lot of us. Whether or not you like Hockey, I can almost assure you that it will grow on you after reading this. Sadly, strength and resilience give way to anger and pain, leaving no stone unturned, yet that little bear inside those who’ve been dealt the most blows, refuses to give up. It’s a huge cross for these kids to bear (no pun intended) and sometimes, well, something or someone has to break. Every person, every family pins their hearts on the Junior Boy’s Hockey team and its inhabitants have nothing left. Beartown, and its residents wouldn’t be a community without it. Now, what can I possibly say about this story, without giving it away?īeartown is a town that eats, sleeps and goes to bed thinking about one thing: Hockey. And after the last words have sunk into my soul, I can emphatically say, thank you! This one is to be treasured. This is a novel, unlike any of your others, yet it’s so full of heart and emotion that we the readers know emphatically that it is yours. With Beartown’s previous success, similar victory is all but guaranteed for Us Ireland’s unfaltering enhancement will have audiences clamoring for the audio option.Fredrik Backman: You’ve left me drained, almost completely bereft of words. Through the muck of corruption, greed, rivalry, blame, and so much hate, Beartown will need to remember that hockey “is a simple game, if you strip away all the crap surrounding it… Everyone gets a stick.

Fighting for ultimate control is a Svengali-like politician whose rise and fall both prove inevitable.


But listeners will want to hear every word to discover how the events play out – better yet, they’ll want to absorb every echoing nuance brilliantly embodied by Marin Ireland, who returns to this remote town as it desperately attempts to mend from a vicious rape that destroyed the hockey team. “When we found out the truth, we fell apart, taking the town with us… This is the story of what happened afterward.”Ī new coach takes charge, a team is reassembled. Everything that happens in this resonating sequel to Beartown is revealed in the first two pages.
