Book Banter: Beartown by Fredrik Bachman

Michelle G. Bulla, July 2024

Fredrik Backman’s compelling novel reminds me that it is the small things, the “moments” in life that we have to hold onto, and the choices we make in those moments that determine our psychological and physiological states. In this novel set in a small, forgotten, and dying northern clime where hockey is life for both players and non-players, Backman keeps us hovering over many characters who find themselves at crossroads.

We watch them as we watch ourselves in some ways, from above, from behind, from the abstract, despite knowing our actions have consequences in the present for ourselves and for those around us, love and intent be damned. There is thus a distancing between us and his cast through the narrative technique of altering omniscient points of view, and though we are always in the third person, we are sometimes reading his people through the language of an Everyman play as he substitutes names for roles, identities for personas and hopes and the reality of lives lived in the shadows of tragedy and trauma and broken dreams.

It is the moments when his cast realize their agency that impact us the most, which Backman articulates for us lest we fail to see his point: “Sometimes life doesn’t let you choose your battles. Just the company you keep.”

Meaningful for readers who are devotees of a perspective, a passion. Possibly triggering for readers who have suffered sexual assault. Simon & Schuster, 2016.

Michelle G. Bulla is a 20+ year high school English teacher at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Orange County, where she also serves as 9-12 English Department Chair. She is on the Executive Board for the New York State English Council (NYSEC), serves on the NYSED English Language Arts Content Advisory Panel, and worked on the new revision of the state standards.

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