Beartown

Written by Fredrik Backman in 2017, Beartown is the first of a trilogy and is followed by the similarly hockey-themed novels, Us Against You (2017) and The Winners (2021). All three novels are set in the town of the same name, and Beartown focuses on the local junior hockey team, the in-game success or failure of which deeply impacts the economy of the town as a whole. As the town's intense focus on the sport reaches dangerous levels and results in several crimes and injustices, the novel examines complex themes of parental control, the cost of keeping secrets, and the weight of regret.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of sexual assault, rape, violence, bullying, suicide, gun violence, drug use, alcohol addiction, and anti-gay bias.

Plot Summary

The novel includes over 50 chapters and is told in brief scenes, with an omniscient narrator occasionally interjecting philosophical maxims and providing exposition. A single chapter may switch between the third-person viewpoints of a dozen different characters, with very few scenes lasting more than two pages. When the novel opens, the narrator reveals that this is the story of how a teenager put a gun to another teenager’s head and pulled the trigger.

Kevin Erdahl is the star of the junior hockey team. His parents have groomed him obsessively to be a star since childhood, and the town views him as a commodity. Beartown is financially depressed, and its citizens live for hockey; the team’s successes and failures are tied to the town’s fortune. If the town cannot attract sponsors for the team, there is no money for the economy. Kevin holds a star status amongst the townspeople, and he and his teammates enjoy the fact that girls fawn over them and adults relax the rules in their favor. Kevin’s friend and teammate, Benji, smokes marijuana but does not worry about being caught because he is the player who always protects Kevin on the ice. Kevin’s father is very influential in Beartown politics, and although Kevin’s parents celebrate his success on the ice, they often neglect his emotional needs.

Peter Andersson is the General Manager for the hockey team and once had a professional career as a hockey player, but this opportunity was cut short years ago, and Peter still feels regret over this. He and his wife, Kira, also feel regret over the untimely death of their son, Isak. Their 15-year-old daughter, Maya, has far more interest in playing her guitar than in following the successes and failures of the local hockey team, and Kira, a successful professional, also has ambiguous feelings about living in Beartown.

The Beartown hockey team manages to win the semifinal games, largely due to the last-minute promotion of a small boy named Amat, who had been playing on a younger team when a coach recognized his speed and innate talent and recruited him. At a victory party after the semifinal, the event gets out of hand when Maya, her friend Ana, and other minors attend and drink alcohol. Benji leaves the party, refusing to be associated with the problematic event. However, Kevin accepts a bet that he can find a way to have sex with Maya, and he takes the inebriated teen up to his room. When Maya refuses to have sex with him, he attacks her and rapes her.

Amat, who has been in love with Maya for years, witnesses part of the rape but is initially afraid to speak up in the aftermath of the event. He eventually testifies to the police and suffers alienation from the team when Kevin is arrested. The rape forces a new set of alliances to be drawn, for although the majority of the town focuses solely on hockey and therefore rallies behind Kevin to shield him from having to take responsibility for his crime, Benji, no longer supports him. This hurts Kevin more than anything.

The final game takes place while Kevin is under investigation, and the team loses without him, even though they play the best they ever have. Maya is blamed for their loss, and she and her father, Peter, become pariahs in Beartown. Then, a malicious rumor alleges that Peter encouraged Maya to lie about the rape just so the team would lose and Peter would be able to leverage this fact for some vague political advantage. Believing the false rumor, the team’s sponsors withdraw their financial backing and support Hed Hockey Club, the team in the nearest town. The best players on the team follow David, their coach, to Hed, leaving Beartown without a team.

Kevin’s investigation ends quickly because the police claim that there is not enough evidence. Maya decides to kill Kevin herself so that she can put the rape behind her. She confronts him with a shotgun as he runs on a jogging track one night, but she chooses to spare his life. Many of the Beartown players choose to remain in Beartown and play since their team has been saved by a few board members and sponsors who refused to leave.

As the novel ends, the narrator reveals that Maya finds peace 10 years later and becomes a famous musician. One day, she sees Kevin in a parking lot and chooses not to tell the woman he is with (his wife) about the rape. Thus, she spares him again, but Kevin breaks down and tells his wife everything in the car.