Why a Booktrail?
2000s: In a small Swedish town, deep in the forest…the trees look set to swallow an entire community
Beartown
What you need to know before your trail
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. This ice rink holds the key and the heart to this community. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals. It seems that all the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
But the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Is Beartown finished after all?
Travel Guide
Beartown
A fictional place with no real sense of where in Sweden it is, but in this novel it’s the village itself, the woods, the lsolation that is important as well as the people within.
Växjö
There are lots of lakes and streams up here, and woods and so this is a very popular area for sports fans of all ages and kinds – anglers and canoeists to name but two. The city also has many parks and is known as one of the greenest cities in Europe
Båstad
This could well be Beartown – it’s a small seaside town of Båstad but is nestled in a picturesque bay and known as the home of the Sweden Open tennis tournament held each year since 1948 so this town’s population increases when all the sports fans come to town!
Ornskoldsvik.
Don’t bother trying to pronounce it. Even the Swedes shorten it to O-vik to avoid getting your tongue stuck in your teeth -Saturday is hockey night in O-vik. This is a town which has produced famous hockey players such as Anders Hedberg, Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, the Sedin twins, Victor Hedman and many more who now play in the USA. This is the Swedish holy town of hockey
Booktrailer Review
This is a book with a difference. Ok, it’s set in a Swedish town which is obsessed in many ways with the great game of hockey. But even if you don’t like hockey, hate it even, this is still a book which will speak to you on some level.
Beartown is a fictional setting with some degree of truth – the Swedish town of Ornskoldsvik which is located in 600-km north of Stockholm
is known as the holy town of hockey and so the sport does have a unique place in this country and the village communities. That made me smile
What also made me smile were the people of Beartown. Each one of them clearly and cleverly described – there are so many personalties and hidden secrets, inner thoughts and suspicions of all kinds. This is where the novel sings – for Beartown is clearly a microcosm deep in the woods where the world’s problems and goings on are magnified, the cries hidden by the hockey cheers.
It’s different from his other books I think in that it’s darker and sad in many places and it deals with some serious issues and consequences of them. It does have some very positive and uplifting messages throughout though about the human spirit:
“If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway.
All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow.
Do good anyway.”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Beartown
Author/Guide Fredrik Backman Destination: Sweden Departure Time: 2000s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
