By Fredrik Backman
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Goodreads: 4.45)
GENRE: Drama
PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Beartown, #3}
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STAND TOGETHER?
It all begins with a storm—and a death. But how does it end?
Two years have passed since those haunting events everyone wishes they could forget. As the people of Beartown struggle to overcome their past, they stand on the brink of significant change. Someone is making their way back home after a long absence. Someone will be laid to rest. Love will blossom for one, while another will fight to mend their marriage. There’s a parent out there willing to do anything to protect their children. Amidst it all, hatred will rear its ugly head, battles will be fought, and in a moment of desperation, someone will head towards the ice rink with a gun.
The residents of Beartown continue to grapple with life’s profound questions: What truly defines a family? What binds a community together? And what sacrifices are we willing to make to protect these cherished bonds?
So, what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?
Everything.
Opening lines: “Everyone who knew Benjamin Ovich… probably knew deep down that he was never the sort of person who would get a happy ending.”
If your heart breaks hearing about Benji’s not-so-happy ending, get ready for it to be broken many more times before you reach the end of The Winners (which, incidentally, is quite a thick book, but which I barely noticed). Fredrik Backman has this uncanny ability to evoke every emotion under the sun. He grabs onto your heart right from the opening line and never lets go… flinging you this way and that. A quote from The Winners hits the nail on the head: "This hurts too much to touch with words..."
As with all the books in the Beartown series perfectly, Fredrik Backman shows what an absolute master he is at allusion (As you can probably see from the way The Winners enters our world). In the little hints Backman offers throughout the Beartown series, he enriches his stories and makes you want to never want to stop reading because you just need to find out what happens to Characters X, Y and Z.
This book is also known as ‘Those Who Run Towards Fire’, a concept Backman addresses in all three books in the Beartown series. He distinguishes between people who run towards fire, and those who run away.
Picking up The Winners again was like catching up with old friends you haven’t seen for a while. This book also introduces some new characters, and for the first time we become engrossed in the life stories of people from Hed. Again, I was utterly immersed in all the character’s lives. This happens every time I read a Backman novel, but particularly with the Beartown series.
The Winners explores the enduring themes of family, community, and life itself in Backman’s trademark manner. Fredrik Backman drops lines like “Fairytales are what help us cope with funerals.” I feel that his wisdom and intuit know no bounds.
The Winners is peppered throughout with Fredrik Backman’s typical humour. E.g. “Leo has his head so far inside the fridge that he seems to think he’ll find a witch and a lion on the other side” and “…{Benji’s} sisters lay into him because he’s so emaciated and if he’d died of starvation they’d never have heard the end of their mother’s moaning… so why does he only think of himself, the little brat?”
As I was nearing the end of The Winners (and was also aware that it’s the final tale in this series), I realised that I had been subconsciously slowing down, because I really didn’t want it to finish. I gathered myself, and finally I finished. Please do not ask me how fragile a state I was in!
The books in the Beartown series are going to be revisited and devoured by me every couple of years. Each time I read them I remember why I love them so much. They take you on a wild ride, through the whole gamut of emotions. They also show you the lives of many characters… and bar just a couple, they are characters who make you care deeply about them. At times these books broke my heart and many times I laughed out loud. Every time, without fail, I had that terrible tug-o’-war inside me which made me want to rush through the book, but also to never finish it. Which is, to me, the very definition of a special, special book.
Click here for The Winners (Book 3)
Click here to purchase Beartown (Book 1)
Click here for Us Against You (Book 2)
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