Beartown

4.5/5– A beautiful and emotional story trapped inside a book about hockey. I absolutely love where the story of Beartown goes. Like other Backman books, every character is complex and interesting; it's hard to not imagine the residents having their discussions right in front of you, as though you were a fly on the wall. However, Beartown took me a while to complete. I found a few sections of the first half of the book too slow. I'm not a huge sports fan, and I was assured that you didn't have to be interested in hockey to appreciate this book, but there are a lot of passages about hockey– players practicing hockey, competing in hockey games, discussing careers in hockey, raising sponsor money for hockey, fans watching hockey– it's a lot of hockey. “Beartown is a hockey town,” could not be more true, and I appreciate how important the sport is in this fictional town, but it's a place I just know I would not fit in. I was glad to see that much of the conflict of the story involves an issue that I think many people need to reflect on: victim blaming. Just like in so many real-life cases, much of the conflict could be avoided by remaining calm, listening to the victim, and trying to help them heal. Sometimes there isn't enough evidence to prove a victim's case, and that's always going to be a possibility, but no one is helped by making the life of an already suffering person worse through harassment and scare tactics. A passage that will continue to stick with me is: “She will always be this to them now: at best the girl who got raped, at worst the girl who lied. They will never let her be anyone but that. In every room, on every street, in the supermarket and at the rink, she will walk in like an explosive device. They will be scared to touch her, even the ones who believe her, because they don't want to risk getting hit by shrapnel when she detonates. They will back away in silence, turn in a different direction. They will wish that she would just disappear, that she had never been here. Not because they hate her, because they don't, not all of them: they don't all scrawl BITCH on her locker, they don't all rape her, they aren't all evil. But they're all silent. Because that's easier.”I think there is a lot to learn from this situation and it reminds us that we just need to have compassion. People who have experienced trauma are not landmines, they do not need to be avoided at all costs. Just like everyone else, they need to be cared for. I didn't think I would finish this novel, and I certainly didn't think I would read its sequels, but I absolutely plan on doing so now. After this, [b:Anxious People 53799686 Anxious People Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594234890l/53799686.SX50.jpg 67840009], and [b:A Man Called Ove 18774964 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405259930l/18774964.SY75.jpg 21619954], Frederik Backman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!