Beartown

The first installment of the Beartown trilogy bears the same name and was originally published in 2017. With this novel, Fredrik Backman focuses on the isolated town’s do-or-die fixation on the game of hockey, uncovering the inherent injustice that lurks beneath the ostensibly wholesome surface of a small community that places a great deal of emphasis upon the team’s wins and losses. In many ways, Backman transcends the shallow conflicts and plot structure of the typical sports novel by delving into the hidden forces of small-town corruption and politics that drive the leadership figures of Beartown to bury and compromise their ethics for the sake of winning. The town reels in the aftermath of the revelation that star player Kevin Erdahl has raped Maya Andersson, the daughter of the team’s general manager. Additionally, the town leaders’ choice to demonize Maya rather than punish Kevin indicates that the goal of winning hockey has superseded all other considerations. As the story unfolds, many characters undergo a crisis of conscience, and those who are brave enough to tell the truth gain a sense of closure that those who choose to hide their secrets will forever lack.

In the sequel, Us Against You, Backman details the town’s attempts to recover from the events of Beartown and rebuild a team that has been decimated by the defection of many star players to the nearby town of Hed. As the very existence of Beartown’s hockey team becomes threatened, the rivalry between Beartown and Hed intensifies to dangerous levels, once again revealing the corruption and violence that lurks beneath the community’s collective obsession with hockey. With the hiring of a female hockey coach, who is also a world-champion hockey player, the Beartown team gains new momentum and trains to defeat Hed. As the rivalry accelerates, a car chase between citizens of both towns results in a violent car wreck that threatens the lives of Kira and Maya Andersson. In an attempt to protect people from further harm, a hockey player named Vidar loses his life when he pushes Maya’s friend Ana out of the path of an oncoming car. Amid this broader conflict, Benji undergoes a personal crisis when his identity as a gay man is revealed to the town, and he experiences and eventually overcomes a bout of suicidal ideation. Ultimately, the town struggles to soldier on despite the tragedy of Vidar’s death, and the game of hockey remains at the heart of the community’s identity even in the wake of the recent violence.

In the trilogy’s final installment, The Winners, a devastating storm causes Hed’s hockey rink to collapse, and as a result, the Beartown team is forced to share its rink with the players from Hed. The close proximity of the two rival teams causes a myriad of petty conflicts that soon escalate, resulting in a physical brawl among citizens of both towns. Local politicians compound the problem by declaring that the two teams must merge into one. Against this broad, sports-focused backdrop, Backman once again conveys the lives and problems of an array of morally ambiguous characters, tackling themes of substance abuse, corruption, revenge, and murder. While the trilogy’s implicit morals are varied and complex, Backman’s work remains notable for its willingness to acknowledge, analyze, and expose the darker elements of small-town life and sports.