if you’ve ever asked me for a book recommendation, you know the first thing I’ll suggest is BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman, so when I heard that there was a THIRD book in the series I knew I had to get my hands on it ASAP!

huge thank you to Atria Books for the early copy 😊🙏🏼

Backman could write his grocery list and I would give it 5 stars. he’s just THAT GOOD! so no surprise I’m also giving this book and this entire series 5 huge stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE WINNERS takes us on the final journey for the residents of Beartown (and the neighboring town, Hed). as predicted, there’s hockey, love, grief, characters who learn more about themselves, characters who lose parts of themselves, and a town who will always back each other up no matter what. what makes me love Backman’s writing so much is the rhythm in which he tells a story and how much detail he puts into his characters. I finished this book last month and truly couldn’t even find the words to write a review because of how much I was still thinking about everything that has happened to my “friends” in Beartown since I first picked up the first book.

if you S T I L L haven’t picked up this series, please please please do 🙏🏼 the third and final book, THE WINNERS, comes out Sept 27 in the USA ‼️

I thought the stories of my favourite characters had been completed in Us Against You. But wait there’s more, author Fredrik Backman has brought them back for one more emotional roller coaster of a story.

Beartown and Hed are two neighbouring towns in Sweden where hockey rules the lives of their citizens. Everything revolves around the support of their team - and those who support the other team are the enemy. Take their hockey away, or give them reason to think that their team is being treated unfairly when compared to the other and you get not just resentment but seething hatred. The rivalry between the towns of Hed and Beartown is not friendly banter between obsessive fans, it is deadly.

The Winners opens as a huge storm hits the part of Sweden where the two towns are located. It is horrendous, scary, and results in massive damage. And then, during the storm, there is a death. A death which draws those characters who have left the area back for the funeral. And after the funeral, a chain reaction of misunderstandings begin that culminates in a shocking act of violence resulting in… well, you’ll just have to read it.

Hed’s ice hockey stadium is destroyed, and the Hed teams are told they have to use the Beartown stadium for training. The roads leading to Beartown are given priority for clearing the fallen trees. In Hed tempers start to rise, the unfairness of it all lights the already short fuses. There is one horrendous scene when the two teams of thirteen-year-olds meet at Beartown for a competition and the children are terrified by the heckling and the out and out violence that erupts. So much hate between the two communities.

Is the answer to close both clubs and start a new combined club? Or will the threat of losing their individual identities finally bring down the unbreakable violent rivalry and create a united front to save their communities?

“…It’s a beautiful evening, the stars are bright and snow is falling, the ice is in his nostrils and crunching beneath his shoes. He loves this place, no one would believe that if they heard it, of course, but he’s traveled all around half the world and still hasn’t seen anywhere like this. The forest and the lake, the wilderness and snow, it’s unbeatable. He isn’t surprised that this town drives people to violence, it could have driven him to violence too if he thought someone was trying to take it away from him. That’s the insight that’s going to help him solve everyone’s problems. That’s how he’s going to win…”

In the background of the story old issues return, poverty and the struggle to survive, sexual abuse, child abuse, marriage difficulties, tragedy, loss, love, violence, drugs and alcoholism, all elements found in almost any community around the world. It is about good people doing bad things, and bad people changing tack and doing good. It is about good people willing to do wrong, or lie, to make things right. It is about friendship against all odds. Then there are the political and business machinations, again the same anywhere in the world, money laundering, corruption, and criminal actions to cover up wrong doings. So much going on that I despaired at times that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.

In his acknowledgment Fredrik Backman wrote: “…Finally: to you who have read the whole of this saga, I’d just like to say that I hope it gave you something, because I gave it absolutely everything I had. Thank you for coming along for the ride…” Well you did Mr Backman - your “everything” was my exhilarating, emotional ride - thank you for writing it and giving me an ending to the saga I didn’t know I needed.

The Winners is a great conclusion to the Beartown series. This book brings conclusion to many of the characters we met in the first book while also introducing us to some new ones. I have loved this whole series, however,I felt this book was a bit too long. If you love the first two books, you will want to be sure to read this last one.

The only thing bad about this book is that it ends my journey with Beartown! What a fitting ending. I was so nervous to read it--I read a different review that said Benji wasn't in it for a long time (absurd--he's on the first two pages which will slay you) and that there were too many new characters. Ummm . . . new characters in this series who you will also LOVE so what is the problem? What Backman has done so well is that he has built out his universe. He doesn't just stay in the same spot--he adds the concentric layers that show how the characters grow and connect and how the small individuals we met in high school have influence on the community and the world. Although you will grieve the ending that Backman warned us about for so long, you will feel the ache of promise and the gift of connection and most importantly, the hope that continues in the footsteps of loss. I will carry this series with me for a long time.

**I was excited to receive a complimentary copy of The Winners by Fredrik Backman from NetGalley. Opinions in this review are completely my own.**

Contains spoilers!

I read Beartown and Us Against You a couple of years ago and LOVED them both. I had been waiting for the end for this story. This book did not disappoint. This book continued the storylines of Maya, Ana, Amat, Benji, and other favourite characters that I met in the first two books, and we also met new characters like Mumble and Big City. Backman does a great job of developing his characters and making them likeable. Even the characters that have a darker side had redeeming qualities, like Mumble, Teemu, and Lev. His characters are well rounded and have so much going on under the surface that they become real to you.

As well, The Winners has so many ideas and themes that leave you thinking long after the novel is done. For instance, I loved the idea that our inner child walks with us. This often has such an affect on who we are now, that the image of Backman describes really hit home. "The two young woment trample over the memories and two invisible little girls pad after them. Because they're always walking behind us: the children we were before the worst that has happened happened." I've been doing a lot of therapy the last couple of years to heal my inner child so I can feel worthy and enough in my life now. As well, he talks about childhood and how "We take happiness so easily for granted if we've had it from the start." There is definitely things that we learn in childhood and then continue them through our lives, passing them on to our children: traditions, relationship patterns, and ways of living. Throughout the novel, there is a running theme of belonging, the us vs. them mentality between Hed and Beartown. You can see how not belonging to something affects different characters. Lev is trying to fit into Hed and wants to make a better life for his immigrant family, Matteo wants to belong and have friends, Big City and Mumble start to feel that sense of team as a part of Beartown Hockey, and Benji is struggling with being gay. Backman says: "The biggest thing you can have is being part of something." In my experience as a teacher, every child wants to fit in. The picture he painted of children who don't broke my heart: "That's why it hurts to be a different child. The one whose name no one remembers when they look back at school photographs because that child was never part of anyone else's childhood except their own. It's so cold being outside other people that you freeze to death all by yourself." It can be so lonely when you don't fit in. Matteo feels that with his classmates, the people in town, and his family. After his one salvation, his sister, is gone, he becomes untethered. It is not hard to see how this plays out but it is heartbreaking. He also alludes to how we as society can view the "other" as different. How the worst things can be believed and possibly even generalized due to some "story we've heard from someone who heard it from someone else."

I would love to see this series made into a TV show or movie. I love this story, I love these characters, and I will definitely recommend it.

Fredrik Backman is a master storyteller and the Winners is proof. I devoured the first two Beartown books, recommending them to everyone. I was so excited to hear the third book was out and lucky to be able to get it on Netgalley for an honest review. While it has been some time since I read the second book, the characters came back to me like old friends with some slight back history from Backman. This book picks up where the others left off and complete our journey with the characters we love as well as adding some along the way. While this book is much longer than I usually read, well over 600 pages, I was engrossed every time I picked up my kindle.

This series should be in every high school library across the world. However it is great for adults as well.

I will greatly miss the characters and story line. I am sad to see our journey over.

FIRST OF ALL: Definitely don’t read this book a couple of weeks after your dog dies. (I trusted you, Fredrik)

We meet a lot of new people, which I guess surprised me. I loved them all though.

The goodbyes broke my heart, BUT ALSO, Zacharias wasn't even mentioned and I would've memorized everything if I knew he would already be off being famous! (I might have known. But I don't remember a finality of "ok, he's gone now. That doesn't mean it didn't happen)

I re-read the first two before reading this, so had all 3 right in a row. Apparently because I love crying. But this one didn't feel like a Beartown book for a long time. I think maybe the AR digital reader just doesn't have the same breaks, which is possibly part of the reason his books crush me.

ANYWAY read this book, of course. FB can do no wrong, and I'll fight you if you disagree.

(Seriously- in Us Against You,I have never in my life cried harder in any book than I did when I read the phrase “he didn’t have a team. So they gave him an army”)

(I’m still not ready to talk about it.)

#netgalley #fredrikbackman #thewinners #beartown

All I could think about while trying to write this review was a quote from the book that encapsulates my feelings quite well:

“Words?

This hurts too much.”

And it did. The third and final installment of the Beartown series left me puffy eyed, runny nosed, and heartbroken, but it also left me with a glimmer of hope.

The Winners picks up two years after Us Against You takes place, planting us right back in Beartown and Hed. While the series, with The Winners being no different, centers around hockey, it’s so much more than that. It’s a deep look at human nature, at relationship, community, and family.

I’ve seen Backman say he gave The Winners everything he’s got, and that is evident page after page. This, for me, was his best work yet. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I groaned, and I wept, leaving me heartbroken at how it ended, but even more so that it was over.

Backman’s greatest strength is the way he weaves characters together chapter after chapter, ultimately bringing them together in beautifully bonded ways in the end. And that was my favorite aspect of The Winners.

I loved the introduction of the newest characters Hannah, Johnny, and their whole family, and the way he wove them into the story. But it was also refreshing to catch up with old favorites like Benji, Amat, Ramona, Bobo, Ana, and Peter.

While not a lot time passes over the span of the book, so much happens that kept me digitally turning over pages, unable to get through them fast enough.

This was a perfect read for me. It wrecked me in all the best ways. So Backman has done it, once again. But it’s safe to say that I’ll miss my Beartown family and will have to revisit the series again upon The Winners’ publication this October!

Thank you, Atria Books & NetGalley, for my advanced copy of my most anticipated book of the year. All opinions are my own.

The Winners is the conclusion to the complex story of friendship and loyalty in the small hockey towns of Beartown and Hed. The story blends the daily routines of the characters with their psychological backgrounds and needs. As the town comes together for the funeral of the much loved Ramona, Maya and Benji return to face their pasts. An investigation into the hockey club’s finances creates tension for Peter and Kira. Violence between the town escalates. In the background lurks a new character, Matteo, longing to justify his sister’s death.
In the end, friendship means everything in this emotional story of winning and loss. I loved this whole series especially the well developed and complex characters.

3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about The Winners, Fredrick Backman's conclusion to the Beartown trilogy. On the one hand, I enjoyed the closure in knowing where life ultimately takes those we met in the first book. It's also beautifully written with complex characters and a vivid setting. I almost believe there really is a Beartown somewhere out there with a Maya, Ana, Amat, Bobo, Benji, and all the others I have grown to care for.

On the other hand, the book was much too long and slow for me. There's a side-story that I found unnecessary as it took the focus away from the main plot and never really went anywhere. If 1/3 of the book had been cut, I think I would have enjoyed it much more.

Like the other books in the series, The Winners kind of rips your heart out at times. It tackles very real and important issues with sensitivity and compassion...I just wish those issues had remained the focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

What a fitting end The Winners is to the Beartown trilogy. Backman is a master storyteller and captures the human spirit and psyche so well. The Winners continues the story of many familiar characters while introducing some new ones that are just as unforgettable. I loved this book just as much as the first two and cried when I turned the last page. It's long at 688 pages, but you'll be so engrossed in the characters' lives and what is happening that it flies by. Read this book now.

I was given an advance copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Fredrik Backman is a real gem and his writing evokes such thoughtfulness and emotion. Loved where the saga of Beartown ended up, highly recommend.

I am so glad to have received an advance copy of this book, the third in the Beartown trilogy. I have read every one of this author's books & loved them all. This story was fabulous, the perfect ending to a great saga. This book was a long one, but I'm sorry to see it end. I will miss Beartown & all its people.

I know that because Backman is a master storyteller and a beautiful writer, it is possible to read this third book without reading the opening works of the series, but DO NOT. It had been quite awhile since I read Us Against You; so much so that I went back to revisit the characters and relationships that were so intricately portrayed in books 1 and 2 of the trilogy before embarking on the final book in the series.

The frame of the storm in The Winners is an interesting backdrop for the plot and it makes the opening chapters of the novel quite cohesive. While the hockey rivalry is still at the core, this novel really focuses more intensely on the relationships of the characters; readers can see the growth and changes of some of our favorites and we are introduced to some new faces. Yes, it is long and is an investment of time. Every chapter is compelling and relatable. This book really is a winner!

The third Beartown book is just as amazing as the first two. You'll laugh, cry, fume, empathize, criticize, and everything in between. We get more of our favorites from Beartown and Hed, along with some new characters that add to the drama. This is not a book you should pick up if you haven't read the first two. There's so much history that you need to experience as you go, instead of learning in dialog and inner thoughts of the characters.

There is never a time that I will turn away the opportunity to read a Frederik Backman novel. The writing, characters and story are always wonderful and this book is no exception and will delight fans of the series. Thank you!

The Winners is a wonderful culmination of the saga of Beartown and their local hockey rivals in Hed. Many of the same characters are in this story, along with a new family, and a couple of new hockey players. The sports rivalry continues but there are several little surprises and a couple of big ones! -- and sadly, even a couple of deaths.

I liked that the author finished up by letting the reader know how the main characters go on with their lives and what lies ahead in their futures.

It is a very compelling story that keeps your attention throughout, and along with the author’s wonderful and unique writing style, I feel very satisfied with the ending.


I'd like to thank NetGalley, Fredrik Backman, and Atria Books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This is a hard review to write.
Bachman is a genius with words. I highlight more beautifully written prose within his pages than any other authors.
This series is one I have been invested in for years. I love these characters and this town.
This book has it all. Covers all of our favorite Beartown residents and we meet a few new ones as well and we have our heart broken all over again along the way.
It has a little bit of plot for everyone. Sports, love, death, lawsuits, family drama, rivalries, and so so much more.
These are my favorite books of all time and I have never been more happy to get an Advanced Reader Copy. Even at 688 pages I wanted to savor every page and every last day spent in Beartown.

Backman has a natural gift for storytelling. This title, the third title in the Beartown series, is just as good as the previous two. Hockey is once again a part of the story, but much like in Us Against You, the sport is much less of a major part of the story than it was in Beartown. This is more of a reflection of the characters' lives that we have seen evolving in the three books. By this point, readers who have been along for the entire ride are emotionally invested in these people, feeling like they actually know them. This title will allow you to experience a small part of their lives again - and I am glad we had the chance.

God this book was infuriating! Firstly, it was wayyyy to goddamn long. Why, when the first 2 books of this series were a huge success, would he double the length for the 3rd book? It was so unnecessary. I love a long book I can get lost in, but half of this book was not needed. Backman added like 10 new characters and spent too many pages introducing them. Backman is a character builder, it's what he does best. His characters are all complicated and unique and you fall in love with them all always. But part of that strength in this series, has been his ability to prolong the love we have for these characters through 3 books. I was distracted by the new characters and less invested and while they were good characters, they couldn't even begin to live up to the other characters. They just felt like side characters, when Backman intended for them to be new main ones. Also every hundred pages added what felt like a new plot point, when the core of the book/series is already so amazing and strong. He didn't need to do that.

The ending, it was worst than the Killing Eve finale. Benji is the best character of the series. He's also the only gay one. And he killed him off. And I know it was meant to be heroic and be the biggest end of the biggest series, but it really just came off homophobic in the same way Jody Comer's death did. To be honest, it felt lazy. Backman spent 3 amazing books, culminating to the death of his best character. Similarly, there were stories I was so excited for Backman to explore from Us Against You that he didn't- namely the girls team. Alicia was barely mentioned until the last 25% of the book, but she was who I was most looking forward to reading about. This also felt lazy.

I know i just spent 2 paragraphs complaining, but my god Backman's writing is my favorite. Which totally redeems the book. That and the fact that he didn't have to try very hard given the fact that I am utterly obsessed with Beartown and Us Against You. Every sentence I feel like my heart is getting ripped out of my chest. I learn something new about people and life and friendship and parenthood in every paragraph and he does it in a way that is just, simply beautiful. I'm so sad this series is over. I read Beartown for the first time a few months ago, spent the law few months anticipating this book, and I'm said to see an end of Maya and Ana and Amat and Benji and Bobo's special lives. 4 stars because despite my complaints, I can't bare to give these people anything less. If you love Beartown, whether it be the team, the town, or the book, you should read it. You might be frustrated, but you will love it just the same.