I’ve been a Fredrik Backman fan for some years and have written about many of his books in this space. His first Beartown book was my favourite without question. And because I loved the first, I read the second, which was very enjoyable, but not as good as the first. And once I was that far, I had to read the third, The Winners, which I finally got to recently. It was good, and it’s certainly worth reading if you’ve started the series (and you should read the series!), though it’s third both in order and quality.
A quick overview. Beartown is a small northern, forest town in a Nordic country, and has all the great and limiting qualities of a small town. It is a hockey town, with all that brings with it – deep passion and love, dedication and partisanship, as well as hooliganism and aggression. As a small town, it is parochial and small-minded at the same time as the people are loyal and deeply dedicated to one another. The characters, as in all of Backman’s books, are quirky, lovable, feel deeply and struggle with their humanity. Many of the same wonderful characters from the first books appear in this one, though some die, and new ones are introduced.
The third book follows both the plot and the themes of the first book – a rape by the town hockey star (there’s nothing explicit in the book), and the town’s attempt to first cover it up, and then meet it face to face. Like the first, the second and third books continue to trace the impact this has, not only on the victim, but on many other characters who are connected to both the victim and the perpetrator. In The Winners, we are also introduced to a parallel narrative – the story of a different rape victim whose story isn’t believed, the terrible consequences to her and her family as a result, and how the two stories intersect.
Beyond needing quite a bit of editing (one can skip over the first 150 pages of this 650 page book without missing almost anything related to the plot or character development), Backman has a technique that I liked at first, but which he overuses. He explicitly foreshadows things that will happen later in the book (e.g. that someone will die, that a relationship will end), and then builds up to that conclusion in the intermediary chapters. When used sparingly, it’s a technique that builds suspense because you want to know how it happens, not just what happens. But Backman does this far too many times in this book, which gives the feeling that he’s just hooking the reader over and over again, a kind of artificial technique that feels overdone. Sometimes the plot just has to play itself out.
Despite my less than totally enthusiastic review, it was an enjoyable book that reads quickly. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, please do, and you’ll understand why it’s worth reading to the end.
Just Because I Liked It:
1. I was fascinated by this interview with Apollo Management CEO, Mark Rowan, on Conversations With Tyler. He’s not only a wise manager, but, as it turns out, someone deeply dedicated to the Jewish community! He is also on the Board of University of Pennsylvania, and gives an up front seat to the recent upheavals there.
2. This song has become very popular in Israel because of the war. There are two videos that go along with it. Please watch each – they are each moving and powerful. I cried, if that means anything.