It took me a while to catch my breath in the end, to absorb all that happened in this third and final book of the Beartown series. If you are a fan of the first two books, I suspect you will want to know what happened now that two years have passed since what happened to Maya, what happened in this town, to these families, to these characters - Benji, Ana, Ramona, Maya, Bobo, Peter, Amat, Sune and others and you will welcome the new characters. I had to know and for me this is the best of the three.

I lived in the Swedish forest towns of Beartown and Hed once again. These are hockey towns and I’m not even a hockey fan, but these stories are about so much more than hockey . These stories are about family, friendships, community, about people’s flaws and strengths. They are about tragedies, about loss, about the ties that bind people during hard times, about tough politics, about some bad actors, too . They are a slice of life in small Swedish towns, near the forest, where hockey reigns and shapes daily life. But the things that happen here can happen anywhere - drugs, alcohol , deaths, rape and sexual violence, dysfunctional families, troubled marriages. This is not an easy book to read. I was gutted at times. Thankfully, there are genuine friendships, and love and even though that doesn’t erase the pain, it somehow makes it a little easier to bear.

I can’t say that the book was perfect. The parts about the corruption, the politics, the sponsors, the schemes to save the teams, the towns was a bit much at times and honestly confusing. Having said that, the strength of this story lies in Backman’s keen observation of human nature, his empathy for the human condition and in creating characters that I loved. I didn’t realize how much I missed these characters until I started reading this book . Now that the Beartown trilogy has ended I miss them even more. It’s hard to say goodbye to characters that you love, but it won’t be goodbye because these characters will be with me for a long time. That in itself is worthy of all the stars.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley.

I have not read a book this profoundly beautiful, heart wrenching in … well, probably since I finished Us Against You. At over 650 pages, I expected this book to take me a while, once I got to the halfway point, I wanted it to take me a while - I was not remotely prepared to say farewell to my friends in Beartown, but I couldn’t stop, page after page I made it to the end, a sobbing mess of tears and a heart so full, I said goodbye to this cast of characters who have leaped off the page since book 1 … Benji, Maya, Ana, Peter, Kira … just to name a few. A perfect end to this must read, thought provoking trilogy.

Always so excited to receive an early copy of a Fredrik Backman book! He is one of my all time favorite authors and his latest, The Winners, does not disappoint. Backman has such a way with words that make me think long after I turn the last page and keep me interested from the very start. Highly recommend The Winners and will likely read it again.
Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't realize we needed a third Beartown book, but it turns out we did. Sometimes it takes me a while to warm up to Fredrik Backman books but like always, I came around at the end.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“The Winners” completes the 3-book Beartown series.

I read “Beartown” in 2017 —
“Us Against You” in 2018 —
…..and now…..the conclusion —
“The Winners” in 2022.

In “The Winners”….
“Two years have passed since the event 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?

It’s been five years since I first read “Beartown”……..
I thought it was brilliant— totally PHENOMENAL [ambitious, complex, substantial depth, and wonderful characters].
I thought - at the time - it was a stand alone book.

I was very surprised when Book 2, “Us Against You” came out. It was ‘good’…..better than ‘average-good’....but not phenomenal. I remember being frustrated with the heavy repetition for the first 3/4 of the book — much too much rehashing from book 1….
I still enjoyed the characters from, “Beartown”, that returned: Maya, Ana, Benji and others from the first book……
But…..
I wasn’t crazy about the new characters, the hoodlums, the violence, and the crazy tragic-twisty events.
I felt the overall story lost some of its original ‘Wow-Ness’…..it lacked a depth of real emotion (something that was organically real in Book 1).

“The Winners”……was good. “IT STARTED WITH A STORM”……
I especially enjoyed re-connecting with the original characters from book 1: “Beartown”…..
And…..
I ‘did’ feel the ‘organic’ emotions were back - which were missing for me in book 2.
But….. where there was a little bit too much violence, corruption, and criminality in Book 2….
In Book 3, there were pages among pages about the ongoing dealings of …..
corruption, embezzlement, conjuring tricks, dirty money, taxpayers’ money of small crimes, sustainability issues, endless arguments about resources, parents trying to influence team picks, coaches whose ideas were grinding, unspecified costs, hypocrisy, a pyramid scheme: unethical business that wasn’t visible….
every decision, every contract, slipped closer and closer to being a criminal act:
”the club has debts and asks the council for more money, but the council is concerned about what voters will think. So instead the club finds a new sponsor, a consultancy firm registered abroad, which for some mysterious reason agrees to pay off all the debts. The consultancy firm is owned by a local construction company in Beartown, whose largest client by far just happens to be the council”…..

Yep…..it started with a storm…..
Backman is a terrific storyteller but it took some patience to read through club-run-business dwellings.
I can’t imagine that every reader wouldn’t also begin to think that some of the details were tedious. …..(no matter how much one loves Backman and or hockey)…

About 60% into the book….I just wanted to know the ending already…..(the climatic events closer to and including the ending ‘WERE RIVETING’) > our emotions catch fire!!!….
but the journey to resolution could have been tighter…..

The story held my interest most when I experienced intimacy ‘while’ addressing issues that our society and humanity deals with….
But….
After awhile …..I admit to feeling ‘Beartown-Fatigue-Burnout’.

That said…..
Backman’s great gift — for me — are those times he pulls at my heart strings….with warmth, sadness, humor, and love……
[hint: Go Girls, Go Elizabeth Zackell]….
and by getting to the heart of the matter….punching those intelligent-moral-powerful daggers at us…..and giving us a little victory.
“Everyone needs to feel that they won something”.:


A few small excerpts…..
“Do you want to understand people? Really understand them? Then you need to know all the best that we are capable of”.

“Home. There really ought to be more words for that. One to cover the people we have there, another with room for those we have lost”.

“The hardest thing in hockey is to change your perception. The hardest thing to change your perception about is yourself”.

Overall ….I’d rate “The Winners” …..the trilogy-conclusion-series about a 3.7 rating. Rating up: 4 stars.

What a stunning and gut-wrenching ending to the trilogy. It showcases Backman's brilliant storytelling and unique writing that is engaging from the first page to the last.