Beartown

It took me so much longer than I expected to finish this book. It's not that it wasn't compelling (more on that in a second). It's more because, like everyone in the universe, I was trying to avoid getting hit by this nasty flu. So, over the last two weeks, I've traded hours of reading this heart-wrenching book for sleep. 

But, wow. This book.

That quote spells out so perfectly the irrationality of being a sports fan. If you're not an over-the-top fan of sports on some level, I don't know that this book will resonate as much with you. You won't understand why the people of the factory community of Beartown live their lives through high school kids playing hockey. You'll think that obsession is so irrational, you won't understand why it blinds them to everything else. You won't even begin to relate to why adults put their hopes and dreams - and, the hopes and dreams of their dying town - onto the backs of those boys. 

But, if you do get that way about sports, you may detest a part of yourself, too. Because the people of Beartown are like so many of us. So many who would trust the word of an athlete above all else. Who would be willing to look the other way - away from something terrible - if it meant the dreams of your team would stay alive. You would know that it's wrong and maybe do it anyway. And, if you did, you would be like so many in Beartown.

This is a powerful, heartbreaking, beautifully-written book by the same guy who wrote A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, two of my favorite books from last year. Once again, he finds a way to appeal to something deep inside of all of us. He finds those universal truths that allow you to relate to an immigrant kid playing hockey in a small town - or the aging coach of that club who finds himself irrelevant. And, the young girls who seek deep solace in each other's friendship, even as their childhood crumbles around them.

Beartown is about hockey. And, community. And, small towns and dying dreams. It's about adolescence and feeling invincible and lies we tell to fit in. It's about the choices we make and the consequences we're willing to accept. And, it's about the reality you learn as you get older: no matter how hard we try, we can't protect our children.

This book first drew me in, then it broke my heart. I had moments of joy and moments of recognition. I read lines, like the one above, that expressed perfectly the reality of every day life. 

Of the three Backman books I've read so far, this was by far the darkest and most powerful. And, was still as beautifully written as the others. I don't know that I could read it again, but I would start it over in a heartbeat.