The Winners

The Beartown series is one of the best written series of books of this current times. In this final installment of the series, Frederik Backman beautifully closes the story of this small, snowy town.

As expected from the experience of the first two books in the series, this story is full of conflict between towns and groups of people. Mia and Benji both return to Beartown to attend the funeral of a Beartown icon. A terrible storm results in rising tensions between Beartown and Hedd, and these tensions fuel the plot of this book. Things do not end well for all our favorite characters, a fact which is foreshadowed in the first pages of the book.

This book is just as well-constructed as the first two in the series. Backman carries motifs established in book one through to the end of the series, making the entire reading experience cohesive and satisfying. The story could have been a bit shorter and still achieved it's goals, but the writing is so good that the reader can overlook some of the superfluous content.

Overall, this book concludes the series in a satisfying manner. I would have preferred a happier ending for some characters, but I accept that the choices made by the author fulfill his design. I highly recommend this book and the entire Beartown series to anyone who loves an engaging plot with beautiful prose.

“You get success by having extremely high integrity but absolutely zero prestige. Because integrity is about who you are, whereas prestige is only about what other people think of you.”

Backman does it again! Fantastic book with great character journeys. Nobody writes people so well IMO. It's sad and funny but most important it's real!

Entire Beartown series is a gem!

 “This hurts too much to touch with words.” This quote from the book sums up this entire series. If you've read the first two then you already know what the series is and this is a fitting conclusion to it.

The only other thing I could really say is that I thought this book was the most flawed of the three, but simultaneously the best among them. This was easily my book and series of 2022. 

I just finished The Winners by Fredrik Backman and here are my thoughts.

Maya and Benji both feel the pull to leave beartown in their rearview mirrors. Beartown is back on top and the town feels optimistic. The ice rink has been rebuilt into something amazing and the town is finally back to normal.

It's 2 years since us against you and the rivalry between Hed and Beartown comes back in full force after a devastating storm destroys Hed's ice rink.

Peter, having quit as GM to beartown 2 years previously, is still somehow caught up in an investigation into the hockey club's finances. Amat riding low after the debacle at the NHL draft is barely hanging in there.

A 14 year old with nothing to lose after his sister passes, has a plan and that plan includes a gun and revenge.

The one thing that always stands out for me in this series is the friendships that are forged and how much they impact the lives of the people around them.

Benji and Maya both return after the death of someone the town loves, to attend the funeral. Seeing how they have changed and grown is quite inspiring. They still have heavy burdens that weigh on them but it's hard not to adore both of them.

I found the pace of this book was pretty even for the most part but did lull in places but it actually worked for the book. I usually don't like books that pick up on a different character during a chapter but the author weaves such a clever tale that it feels like it flows perfectly.

I also really enjoyed the depths of some of the more unsavory characters and the idea of the pack in hockey was marvelous. You can see why the pack acted the way it did and it wasn't for barbaric reasons even though it looks like that on the surface. It was a very interesting way to write and I loved every single second of it.

This series will teach you how to love without boundaries and how to rise up from rock bottom. No one gives up, no one is the victim and that is a powerful message.

Beartown is so much more than a hockey team, it's a family. This book is more than just hockey, its life lessons through the eyes of teenagers. Beartown has been carved into my heart and I am so glad I got to go through the journey with them all.

5 stars. If you love general fiction that will draw you into a world you won't want to leave, then this series has to be on your list.

Thank you #netgalley and #simon&schustercanada for my review copy

”This hurts too much to touch with words”I've read this as slowly as I could because I didn't want to say goodbye to the characters. Especially Benji, who I fell in love to the point I decided I wanted to give his name to a future son.This was a very emotional book and I now feel empty. We hoped for a different ending, however, it was still a brilliant finale to the series.”all our stories have really only been about one thing: ever since the very first, about a boy who made it all the way from here to the NHL and came back with his family, about his daughter who found the best friend in the world, about a terrible crime and love that was like organ donation. About tears and struggle, about hugs and laughter, about a stage and a guitar and thousands of people in the audience. About a boy who was born in a place that had never seen ice but who one day could move faster on skates than anyone else, about other children who became the best in other ways, about the boy who became a coach and the ones who became parents and the girl who flies a helicopter to save the whole world. About a young man who could never see himself as a hero but who died like one, who ran toward fire to save a child. About families and friends. About climbing trees and adventures. About a vast forest and two small towns and all the people here who are just trying to live their lives. Sit in a boat. Tell lies. Catch zero fish.”Thank you [a:Fredrik Backman 6485178 Fredrik Backman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493098924p2/6485178.jpg] for giving us this story.

What can I say? I've read one of two books by him and I think his choices, especially the narrative voice, are just brilliant. Involving and sweet and with just the right amount of tease to make us want to keep going. I have the two first Beartown books, but I figured that if I enjoyed this one, I'd go through the others, no harm done.
Honestly, I might, but don't even know. there's SO much sadness in two little tiny towns! It might be a tad too much. He does try to balance it with a bit of romance and hope, but I'm not sure I can overcome the sheer amount of death. Also, if, like me, you know zilch about hockey, it takes a while to understand the obsession - which is described as a life in a waiting room, too calm for the inhabitants of these two places. Unless you make the swap to your own whatever - soccer teams, for instance, here in Brazil. Still.
Yes, I'm aware I'm not helping that much. Maybe it's one of those books you just need to read and see how it makes you feel. If you do, say hi to Bobo to me: by far, my favorite character.

I hoped to love “[b:The Winners 60318890 The Winners (Beartown, #3) Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645483248l/60318890.SY75.jpg 76192150]” by [a:Fredrik Backman 6485178 Fredrik Backman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493098924p2/6485178.jpg] as much as I love the original “[b:Beartown 33413128 Beartown (Beartown, #1) Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1482108618l/33413128.SY75.jpg 54171514]”. The latter is the one book that I recommend to anyone who has time for just one more book. It was the book I gave my mother as a present for what would be her final birthday. She never got to read it.I already thought the second book wasn't as good as the first one but, sadly, this third instalment is the weakest. It started out so well and felt a lot like “Beartown”...»To you who talk too much and sing too loud and cry too often and love something in life more than you should.«“The Winners” continues the story of Beartown, its rival Hed and both towns' inhabitants. Backman takes time to paint a literary picture of life in those parts of the world but also writes very convincingly about the conditio humana in general.»There's an immensity of love that bursts from your chest the first time you hear your child cry, every emotion you've ever felt is amplified to the point of absurdity, children open floodgates inside us, upward as well as down. You've never felt so happy, and never felt so scared. Don't say “don't worry” to someone in that position. You can't love someone like this without worrying about everything, forever.«We're back in Beartown two years after the events of the previous book and people and things have moved on from what had happened. Nevertheless, Maya, Benji, Amat, Leo and all the others are around and some new characters like Lev add a new layer to the story.»Ana thought Maya was stupid, and Maya thought Ana was an idiot, and they became best friends instantly.«Unhurriedly, Backman explores not only Beartown and its people but also concepts like home, how we fall in love and much more. I took a lot of notes and highlighted generously on almost every page because while Backman rarely presents entirely new ideas, he has a very “organic” and convincing way to express these days in a way that speaks (not only) to me.It's not like everything is philosophic, though. Backman isn't your old-age wizened philosopher preaching to us; he uses hockey to write fluently and easily readable about his topics - and employs a kind and gentle humour to drive his point home...»They live in the same house but his parents barely see him, he's fourteen now, meaning that they no longer have a child but a lodger.«The problem is: However wise you are, however good your ideas are, however well you can tell a story - your readers will be sated at some point. Keep on extending your story past that point and you run a high risk of losing your readers.This is exactly what happened to me. After, let's say, 60 chapters (!) full of good ideas, foreshadowing, promises of things to come, Backman oversteps the mark. His endless descriptions on almost 700 pages are just too long. He promises world-shattering drama but actually delivers too little in way too many words.“The Winners” becomes the elderly guest at your table who tells a charming tale in the beginning, keeps on talking and ultimately overstays his welcome and needs to be shooed kindly out of the door late in the evening.Backman has become a victim of his own success: “The Winners” would have needed a bold editor, unafraid to suggest liberal “cuts” from the surplus “fat”. There's a very decent story that many won't get to know about just because it takes too long to be told.One minor issue is the “epilogue”: It details what becomes of most of the people, including Kevin from the first novel. “The Winners”, thus, answers questions that should better have remained unanswered - we probably had our own ideas about that already and there's simply no need to interfere with those.All in all, this was sadly a tiresome read and I have to say I'm glad it's over. It probably would have been best if “Beartown” had remained a unique and solitary masterpiece.Rounded generously up, three out of five stars.Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

It has been a long time since I fell for a cast of characters as hard as I fell for the inhabitants of Beartown. This series has so much, and does so much, and yet at it's heart is so simple - Who do you love? And how far would you go to protect them? 

This trilogy will be one of my all-time favorites.