Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Beartown
    Beartown
    Beartown
    Audiobook13 hours

    Beartown

    Written by Fredrik Backman

    Narrated by Marin Ireland

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Now an HBO Original Series

    “You’ll love this engrossing novel.” —People

    Named a Best Book of the Year by LibraryReads, BookBrowse, and Goodreads

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People, a dazzling and profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.

    By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals—and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

    Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown.

    This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

    Editor's Note

    Suspenseful & moving…

    Backman tells the story of a town deep in the forest of Sweden that lives and breathes hockey, but it’s about so much more than sports. Both suspenseful and moving, it tackles issues from class to immigration to #MeToo, and is ultimately a story of what unites and divides us.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateApr 25, 2017
    ISBN9781508230984
    Author

    Fredrik Backman

    Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, and Anxious People, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand and on Instagram @Backmansk.

    More audiobooks from Fredrik Backman

    Related to Beartown

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      New Poetry by Shauna Barbosa

      Mar 12, 2018

      New Poetry by Shauna Barbosa
      2 min read

    • Article

      To The Manure Born

      Jun 1, 2020

      To The Manure Born
      5 min read

    • Article

      Where is THE LOVE?

      May 12, 2019

      Where is THE LOVE?
      3 min read

    • Article

      In The Palace Of Forgetting

      Jan 1, 2023

      In the spring of 2019, poet Matthew Kelsey suffered the loss of his mother. Less than a year later, he would lose his father to COVID-19. The following is a poem-interview between Keith Leonard (questions) and Matthew Kelsey (answers) that began in J

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Listeners

      Jan 1, 2023

      The Listeners
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Scrub

      Oct 3, 2018

      The Scrub
      3 min read

    • Article

      Notes To My Garden Denizens, Part II

      Jan 9, 2019

      Notes To My Garden Denizens, Part II
      3 min read

    • Article

      Jon ‘Agadoo’ Parkin

      Jan 13, 2021

      Jon ‘Agadoo’ Parkin
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia

      Aug 26, 2022

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia
      5 min read

    • Article

      Chitchat

      Mar 2, 2020

      Write to us and tell us about your move to the Platteland, the characters in your town, the things you love, the things that bug you… Send an email to helloplatteland@gmail.com or post your letter to Platteland Letters, PO Box 526, Moorreesburg 7310.

      11 min read

    • Article

      Wyoming Is a Real Place

      Jun 1, 2021

      Wyoming Is a Real Place
      7 min read

    • Article

      Unwell

      Jul 16, 2019

      Unwell
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Road Less Travelled

      Dec 27, 2020

      A Road Less Travelled
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Road Less Travelled

      Dec 30, 2020

      A Road Less Travelled
      2 min read

    • Article

      Blue Boy

      Apr 8, 2019

      Blue Boy
      10 min read

    • Article

      Chop-chop

      Feb 6, 2020

      Chop-chop
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pathologic 2

      Aug 19, 2019

      Pathologic 2
      3 min read

    • Article

      Any Given Day

      Mar 29, 2021

      Any Given Day
      11 min read

    • Article

      People Are Strange

      Oct 13, 2019

      People Are Strange
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Beartown

    4.5/5

    3,062 ratings187 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Such a worthwhile read, so much more than just a great story- insights into human nature that stopped me and made me rewind to take them in - I was completely involved in the story which held my attention all the way. Wonderful characterization and I felt I knew each character in Beartown. And the narrator made the story come alive- I heard each character through her voice ???

      5 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great story & good development of characters. Too much language for 5 stars.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Loved this book! Great story about the impact of a crime in a small town.
    • 5/5
      Amazing. Backman is pure literary genius. Narrator is wonderful. 5 stars
    • 5/5
      Best author of our time. I feel enriched and just a better human after reading
    • 5/5
      good audiobook , the story is a 4 ⭐for me ♥️
    • 4/5
      wow. what a book. what a journey. what a town.
    • 5/5
      I love Frederick Backman's books. The way he writes is intriguing and delves deep into the imagination. This book was no exception.
    • 3/5
      Really interesting topic, but I feel like the writing was less polished than previous books.
    • 5/5
      So well done! There were highs, there were lows, there was fear and excitement, all of it rolled within a single novel about…hockey. I suppose it’s never about the sport or the town but rather the people, personalities, strengths, weaknesses…the human-ness of us all. The narrator also did a beautiful job…creative genius!
    • 5/5
      Where do I start? I read 3-4 books a month and very rarely rate books, let alone write a review, but THIS book touched me to my very CORE.... at one point I had to put it down and it took me 2 days to come back to it - I thought about it constantly in those 2 days... I thought about the author and his audacity at writing a book that affected me in this way. I thought about my 11 and 17 year old daughters and how some people go back and forth between doing the right thing, integrity and self righteousness when it suits them. Just... read this freaking book- I know I’ll be thinking about it and will have conversations with my daughters - things they need to hear.
    • 3/5
      No doubt about it Fredrick Bachman is a very talented author. I truly enjoy his writing style but unless a book moves forward I feel like it’s wasting my time, beautiful style or not. This is where Bear Town fell short for me. Until the turning point of the book when the incident occurred, the book dragged. I really wanted to quit reading it but pushed myself through. If the book was tighter I would easily give it 4 stars.
    • 4/5
      RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

      AUTHOR RECOGNITIONS: Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, The Deal of a Lifetime, and Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, his first work of non-fiction. His books are published in more than 40 countries.
      QUOTE: ““A simple truth, repeated as often as it is ignored, is that if you tell a child it can do absolutely anything, or that it can’t do anything at all, you will in all likelihood be proven right. ”
      SYNOPSIS: The dreary town of Beartown has always had one passion that they eat, breath and sweat. The sport of hockey. This is a story about the residents in that town and each of their stories. It’s about the A-team high school hockey boys and their fight on (and off) the ice. And it’s about survival in many forms.
      REVIEW: This was my first book to read by this author. I alternated between listening to the audiobook (highly recommend as Marin Ireland does a superb job) and reading the physical book. I also did what I never do, which was to watch the HBO TV series of Beartown while reading the book, which I don’t recommend doing until after you read the book. The series has a lot of inaccuracies and changes. The Dutch series is ok, but the book is amazing. Trust me. Watch it after.
      You DO NOT have to be a hockey or sports fan to love this book. This is a story about so much more than that. Backman's phrasing and style of writing really connected with me, and there is so much beauty and love among Beartown’s broken people. This book is about love, friendship and family and the very cold and chilling town they live in. So, for any that have kept this on their TBR reluctant to read a thick book about hockey (like I did), trust me. This book will stay with you. I look forward to reading the others in this series! Happy Reading!
      TRIGGER WARNINGS: Body image, guns, homophobia, rape, suicidal thoughts, and violence.
    • 4/5
      I just spent 11hours in BearTown it was FUN
    • 2/5
      I hated this book. Before reading it, my views on hockey were neutral. Now I have developed an aversion to anything to do with hockey. I have loved his other books because he makes you fall in love with characters who at first are completely unlikable. I hated the characters in this book from beginning to end. Where his other books were uplifting and made me want to be a better person, this book made me feel sad and feeling like I needed a shower to get all the ick off.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful book. Unforgettable characters. Backman style shines through in this shocking story.
    • 4/5
      End. Lots to think about next few hours. Good book
    • 5/5
      I've listened to this book 3 times and just really really like it.
    • 5/5
      LOVED THIS BOOK! It was so engaging and well developed.
    • 5/5
      Amazing!! A bit dramatic, but very real and emotional. Love Frederiks stories!
    • 5/5
      A beautifully painted picture of a small town in the woods. Characters are wonderfully written and the narrative is unforgettable. The story itself was less noticeable to me, but the style of writing was on such a high level I could listen to the author describing daily lives for eternity
    • 5/5
      This book has great characters that you really get invested in! I’m from a small town just like Beartown where the people can be so small minded. It was refreshing to read a book that some of the younger generation are trying to change that!
    • 5/5
      As a mother of 2 high school hockey players whose skated feet touched ice at the young age of 3, this book melted every inch of my heart. ❤
    • 4/5
      What a heartbreaking and poignant story. I couldn’t stop listening! I had to listen to the last chapter twice to really grasp the ending; I felt that it wasn’t as clear/direct as the climax of the book. Good read though, would definitely recommend :).
    • 5/5
      A fantastic novel touching sport, love, family, friendships, loyalty (blind and seeking), all done masterfully. If you hate to read, this book will change your approach to the written word. Wow is all this reader can say!!!!
    • 5/5
      Excelente libro de “ficción” que toca temas importantes para todos. Ampliamente recomendado
    • 5/5
      The author has such an amazing ability to bring the reader into a world they couldn't have imagined before. I felt the joy, anger, shame, and sadness of the characters in this town. I literally cried at times when it seems evil would triumph over good. This book shows what most of us know in life to be true all too often...that those with money and power can tip the scales of justice....even when they're wrong.
    • 4/5
      The beginning was so slow
      But, after the main event happens, it start to become so interesting !!!
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! I love the insightful experience. I also loved about the game of hockey.
    • 5/5
      Wow, this book will stay with me forever
      I don’t think I have listened to another book that
      has caused so many different emotions