Now, the seventeen-year-old boys who make up Beartown’s junior ice hockey team carry the immense weight of all the town’s hopes and dreams on their shoulders. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, home of the hockey club that has long been the sole source of entertainment and pride for the townspeople, and the only possible ticket out of town for the young men who grew up playing hockey there. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.īeartown is a small community on the brink of disappearing into the surrounding forest as the town loses more and more young people and commerce to the larger surrounding towns. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. This reading group guide for Beartown includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world. This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship the people we disappoint even though we love them and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown. Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil.

All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Named a Best Book of the Year by LibraryReads, BookBrowse, and Goodreadsįrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People, a dazzling and profound novel about a small town with a big dream-and the price required to make it come true.īy the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals-and they actually have a shot at winning. “You’ll love this engrossing novel.” - People

Fredrik backman beartown