I am one of those readers who judge a book, not by the cover, but by the image on its spine. So, when I passed the ‘B’ section of my local library and fell upon Fredrik Backman’s books–two of which I had read before– I was pleasantly surprised to see a new edition to the shelf: Beartown. As a bonus, the spine featured a beautiful illustration of light and dark blues with specks of white – the perfect image of a winter break read.
As a disclaimer, I am NOT a sportsperson. Nonetheless, I was drawn to Beartown, which tells the story of a high school hockey team in Beartown (presumably somewhere in the mountainous countryside of Sweden, where Backman is from) and how one player takes advantage of an innocent girl. This story surprised me. I was amazed at how many relevant topics Backman was able to tactfully cram into one book. Beartown is “an incredible story about how one instance [sexual assault] can affect an entire community,” according to Hanna Bobrowicz ’20, another fan of the novel.The novel is told in third-person omniscient, and narrative focus constantly shifts between each character. However, “The reader does not need the character’s inner thoughts to understand their motives or their feelings; Backman gives us all the insights we need by these revealing moments of action,” reveals Lizzie Schwartz, Northeastern University ’21.
At the forefront of the novel is Kevin Erdhal, hockey star of the Beartown junior team destined to skate his way to the NHL. Kevin is the central character of the novel. However, I connected more with his best friend on the sidelines, Benji. Kevin and Benji’s friendship goes much deeper than hockey as they understand each others’ mannerisms and deepest insecurities before the other knows it for himself. Despite their friendship, Kevin and Benji are divided by their socioeconomic class: Kevin comes from a privileged family while Benji lives in a tiny house on the fringes of the Hollow (the slums of Beartown). I can confidently say that Benji is my favorite literary character, perhaps ever, for his complexity. He hides his homosexuality from those closest to him and grapples with his father’s suicide, an addiction to alcohol and drugs, and a tendency to act out in violent measures. Benji is also constantly sleeping which begs the question of whether he suffers from narcolepsy or depression. Despite his secrets, Benji is the moral compass of Beartown and does not put up with the unethical drama that ensues.
I learned a lot about how a club hockey team works from the novel. A club is composed of coaches (David, Lars, and Sune), a president, and a General Manager (GM). The GM of Beartown Hockey is Peter Andersson, who made it to NHL despite coming from a small, rural town. Despite his success story, Peter and his wife Kira have a complicated past, which makes their love that much stronger. In fact, Kira calls Peter every day to make sure he took the right car to work, knowing he did, just to make sure he is still breathing (a reflex since the passing of their first born son). Again, actions trump words. Similar to their parents Peter and Kira, Maya and Leo share the typical sibling friction, but Leo is there for Maya when she needs him most, especially when she is raped.
In the beginning, I found myself rooting for Kevin and Maya’s relationship — Backman romantically describes how Kevin’s eyes drifted towards Maya’s in the hallway at school and her heart began to flutter. Suddenly romanticism turns to realism in a later scene where Kevin brings Maya to his room and pins down her wrists on his bed, penetrating her despite her persistent screams. Schwartz says, “following Maya’s rape, the reader doesn’t only feel badly for Maya and her family. I had sympathy for Amat, for Kevin’s mom, and most amazingly, I felt badly for Kevin. That is how I know Backman did an amazing job at writing about rape.” Maya is the victim, but Kevin’s environment – growing up with parents who did not show their love for him, experiencing immense pressures, and constantly being told to ‘win’- perhaps influenced this outcome. Rape is a heinous crime, but Backman paints how complicated the trail to this crime can be, explaining why a rape victim does not always come forward right away and how one’s environment can shape one’s personhood in the future.
Ana, Maya’s friend and the female version of Benji, is not there for her best friend when she needs her the most (something which haunts her throughout the novel). Instead the only witness of Maya’s rape is Amat: the new hockey recruit. Wicked fast (pardon the Boston jargon), Amat is on his way to being the next star hockey player and gets time on the ice during the semi-final game. But like Benji, he has his secrets, too. He lives with his single mother in a small apartment in the Hollows, is bullied at school, faces discrimination because of his Middle Eastern descent, and dedicates each morning to hockey drills. Despite this, he is deeply in love with hockey. And Maya.
When Maya reveals the truth to her parents and Beartown, the reader learns why so many rape survivors do not follow Maya’s brave footsteps.Maya tells Ana that if she doesn’t come forward, then Kevin only hurt her, but if she comes forward to the police then it will hurt her friends and family and the town as a whole. Footnote, Beartown’s economy is not so great and if they were to win the final, a hockey academy would be built in Beartown, which would bring jobs and income back into the market. Ultimately, Maya shares her story because she realizes that if she does not come forward, Kevin may go on to hurt other girls.
Hockey players, parents, girls, and authority members reject Maya’s claim and treat her and her family like selfish lepers trying to take fame and glory away from Kevin. Maya becomes a target at school and in town: dirty words are written on her locker and a brick is thrown through her window. She is no longer the confident Maya at the beginning of the novel. She is stronger.
Maya and the reader finally achieve justice at the end of the novel when Amat bravely comes forward — after too long if you ask me, but his efforts to secure a safe career and home for this mother are resting on his adolescent shoulders — and tells the club the truth about what happened. Kira –a working mom and a remarkable lawyer — is still left unsatisfied as her lawsuit against Kevin does not make it to court. Kevin and other players go to Hed, the other nearby hockey town, where it is implied they start up a new team. His future will be the same as it was before: no time in jail, no punishment. Maya takes that into her own hands. I won’t spoil what she does (you will have to read Beartown to find out) but I will say this: never have I felt more impressed and empowered by a female character in my reading career.
The story ends with a flash forward to where the characters will be in the future. Maya becomes a famous guitarist and singer. Kevin marries and, ironically, takes his wife to one of Maya’s concerts. Benji and Amat’s future is vague, but I like to believe they take their passion for hockey and friendship into the world to make it a better place. Despite what hockey did to Beartown and what it did to Maya, it is not a bad sport. A central question in the novel is where does hockey end and the rest of the world begin. Is it possible for hockey to exist outside of the world and for players to reap no consequences for their actions off the ice? I hope to find an answer in the sequel, Us Against You. •
