The Winners by Fredrik Backman

The Winners by Fredrik Backman is the sequel to Beartown, which I read a few years ago. I bought it with some book vouchers I got for Christmas. Beartown was a good read, but I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Backman’s earlier novels – A Man Called Ove, Britt-Marie Was Here and My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises. I didn’t know I needed to read a sequel to Beartown, but when I picked it up in the bookshop and read the blurb on the back, I realised I did need to read it!

The Winners is beautifully written, very atmospheric and deceptively simple. Set in two rival towns in a frozen forest – Beartown and Hed – it takes up two years after the events of Beartown. The action takes place over just a couple of weeks, but a lot happens in that time.

Everything in Beartown and Hed revolves around (ice) hockey. Children pick up a hockey stick and skates almost as soon as they can walk. They play for their local team, while their parents support, coach and fight for funding and sponsorship. Beartown Hockey’s fortunes were on the rise, until their new star vanished, saying he was ‘injured’. Hed’s rink is in a state of disrepair. Can the two teams continue to exist with a shortage in funding?

The worst storm in a generation hit the forest. Then a key member of the local community dies suddenly. Two young adults who left Beartown come back to see their families and pay their respects. They reconnect with their old friends and, for just a few days, it feels like things are on the up for the population of Beartown. Meanwhile, a local journalist has spotted some flaws in Beartown Hockey’s finances. And a teenage boy cycles unseen through the town…

There is a big cast of characters in The Winners. They are mainly teenagers and young adults, plus their parents and siblings. The story is told in the third person throughout, but focusing on the many different characters individually. We see some situations from the point of view of more than one character. Slowly, we build up a full picture of what is happening, as well as the complex relationships that bind the community together.

The Winners is a long book, but it is well worth a read. The writing style is beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever read before (apart from Beartown). There are some devastating things that happen, but it is told in a way which isn’t too graphic.

Can you read The Winners as a standalone book? Yes, you can. But if you’re going to read Beartown too, it makes sense to read The Winners second. For me, Beartown was good, but The Winners is better.