The Winners
From the New York Times bestselling author of TikTok phenomenon Anxious People
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
'I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book' JOJO MOYES
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STAND TOGETHER?
‘It’s often said that winners write history, but there are no winners here’
This is a small story about big questions.
It's a story about family, community, life.
It starts with a storm - and a death.
But how does it end?
Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?
As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.
So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?
Everything.
PRAISE FOR THE BEARTOWN BOOKS:
'This is a stunning read that plunges you into another world. Backman writes with incredible sensitivity and insight. Every one of the characters is real and multi-faceted, having you breathlessly turning the pages, following their fears and hopes, fretting for their futures. This is storytelling at its best: Emotional, vivid, wise and utterly brilliant' HAZEL PRIOR
'Surrounded by impenetrable forests, Beartown recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. A mature, compassionate novel' SUNDAY TIMES
'Backman can tickle the funny bone and tug on the heart strings when he needs to, and is a clever enough storyteller to not overindulge in either' INDEPENDENT
'As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson' THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'Backman is a masterful writer' KIRKUS REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Backman (Anxious People) wraps up his Beartown trilogy with the satisfying if overlong tale of two small towns and their inhabitants' traumas and rivalries. After a storm collapses the roof of the hockey rink in Hed, the town's club must share the rink in Beartown, stoking long-held resentments between the clubs. To make matters worse, the editor of Beartown's newspaper discovers someone from Beartown's club is embezzling tax revenue. Meanwhile, after 14-year-old Matteo's older sister dies from a drug overdose, Matteo grows increasingly bitter toward the people from the two towns, who show little regard for his family's problems, and he eventually becomes violent. Backman's narration often feels heavy-handed, and his aphorisms alternate from opaque to obvious ("Guilt is stronger than logic"; "In hockey we know who the winners are, because winners win"). Moreover, many of the chapter-length asides are entirely too aside and lead nowhere. The tension, however, remains palpable after a former hockey player returns to Beartown and everyone assumes he's out to settle a score, and a series of threats escalate into explosive violence and a painful resolution. This will do the trick for insatiable Beartown fans, though others can take a pass.
