SPEECHLESS!

Literally speechless.. I had no words for a while after finishing this today, I had to have time with my thoughts as I honestly felt like I was in that story, that I had been through everything my favourite characters had been through.

When I realised a book 3 was coming I knew I needed it, more than I need my coffee in the morning - [ & that's huge!! ]
Beartown and Us Against You have been my all time favorite books since I read them. This joins them! So now I guess I say my all time favorite series!!!

This book completely broke me, it unearthed feelings that I've had buried so deep for a long time. The characters that Backman has created will be with me forever.

For first time readers people will think they don't want to read about Hockey, but this book is so much more. Its about love, loss, grief, its about fighting to the end for what you want and what you believe in, about protecting those you love and grow to love. Its about being a parent, being a child, its full of hatred and fear, its about doing the wrong thing but making it right but above all its about forgiveness and second chances.
This book will rip you apart.

Fredrick Backman has outdone himself once again and I know that this book will be on many readers top 5 lists of books that are a must read. It's definitely on mine!!!

Huge thank you to the author himself, Netgalley and Atria Books for giving me the chance to read this fantastic digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

For goodness’ sake don’t read the last part of this book in public. Not unless you look absolutely stunning with a swollen nose, blotchy red cheeks and a face full of tears. And make sure you don’t finish it just before you’re about to go out. I’m supposed to go for a run now, and I’m going to need a hat and some big dark glasses, maybe a scarf. It’s not even sunny. Or cold.
Backman had me in tears before the end of the first paragraph, damn him.
The Bear Town trilogy is right at the top of my Most Favourite Reads list. I knew before I picked this book up that it was going to hold that spot. There’s nothing I can say that I haven’t already said about this beautiful story and the way Backman writes. His ability to capture emotions with words that are so relatable is a gift. His characters are perfection.
There will forever be a Benji-shaped hole in my heart.
Massive thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster U.K. for the ARC and my broken heart.

Going to keep this review brief, as while I can appreciate why many others love this book, it really was not for me (I also do not want to spoil the series!). I had listened to the audiobooks of the previous installments of the trilogy and enjoyed them (and it was good to have recaps of the previous books in ‘the winners’, otherwise this would have been a tricky read!). However, this book is hefty, and for me honestly too long. The story is repetitive, and I did find that tedious to read. A big part of the storyline also is sports which I know nothing about, so it was hard for me to connect with that element!
One of the highlights of this book and of Backman’s writing is the characters. I became attached to the characters, which made for some devasting reading, and I liked the new ones introduced in this book like Johnny and Hannah. However, I did sometimes find it hard to keep track, especially with the different POVs.
Overall, I do think this was a super emotional, and thought-provoking read, and a highlight of Backman’s writing is his characters. Although this final installment wasn’t for me, I do still love the series and that’s why I think this book has a higher star rating, but without giving spoilers, I just really didn’t like where this story went.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for this arc!

Was really happy to receive an ARC of this book, and a fine finale to an amazing trilogy book series. I really enjoy the authors way with words, and how real the characters are.

Personal rating:
3.25🌟, rounded to 3🌟


I love Beartown (the first book, not this whole series lol) because it discusses important topics but in a way that allows you to think for yourself. But my personal favourite is Us Against You for a number of reasons including the introduction of Teemu Rinnius. I'm still lowkey crushed that he didn't end up with Adri btw but whatever.

Enter The Winners. I was pretty dang excited when I got approved for an e-arc of this because ya kidding me? More of Backman + Beartown could never mean a bad thing! Oh, you sweet summer child, you.

My first ‘oh boy’ was when I found out this book has nearly 700 pages in total. But I kept a positive mind. The second ‘oh boy’ came when at ±300 pages, barely anything of consequence has happened. By then my interest has steadily gone down and I started thinking maybe too much of Backman is not such a great thing after all.

Once I finally reached the end and read his acknowledgements, he mentioned feeling lost etc. while writing this book and I definitely felt that in the story. This book should be thinned down more imo, large parts of it felt like you're going nowhere. Two weeks—the duration of everything that went down in this book icymi—has never felt so long. I couldn't care less about the parts that have to do with the editor-in-chief and all the politics. Matteo's part took so long to develop that I pretty much lost all interest by the time it actually happened.

Oh and did anyone else feel weird when Maya and Ana (Maya especially) suddenly acted like longtime best friends with Benji in this book? Because I sure do.

In the end, I think if I ever reread this series, I'm just gonna pretend it's a duology and that this book never existed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free digital copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I was so happy to get the Arc of The Winners, I've been a huge fan of Fredrik Backman, and the Beartown series has been amazing!
The Winners was a great read just like the first two books, emotional and uplifting. It was great to meet all the much loved characters again.
As usual it is beautifully written and is a memorable read.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I still can't believe this actually happened. I mean, I LOVE everything Fredrik Backman writes, and I have several of his titles on my list of all time favorites. While the Beartown series hasn't been among my absolute favorites, I did love the second book more than the first. I didn't realize that there was going to be a third book to be honest, but of course I wasn't going to be able to resist a new book by one of my absolute favorite authors. I was SO excited to have The Winners appear on my kindle, and I literally dropped everything to start reading it straight away. Not even the whopping almost 700 pages could deter me... But somehow I ended up having mixed thoughts instead. Trust me, this is something I still cannot wrap my head around myself either!

I'm starting to think that this is one of those series that should have been left alone. True, the sequel did work better for me than the first book, but Us Against You had a solid ending and the fact that I never expected a third book says it all. It's hard to keep up with the magic of the first two Beartown books, and I personally ended up feeling that that special spark was missing in The Winners. It's not a bad read (it's Backman we are talking about after all) and I still love his writing style and way of wording things. His style is easy to recognize and I basically knew that I was reading another of his books immediately... But somehow it wasn't enough for me this time around. I'll try to explain briefly what didn't work for me.

One of my main issues is the fact that The Winners is simply way overlong, and as a consequence the pace itself is extremely slow. It felt like the author wanted to show every little detail about the lives of just about every single character, and it made the story surprisingly slow and tedious to read. Not that I didn't like the new characters, and I understand what their role is in the plot, but still... I did think that a lot of the already known characters lost their spark a little, and as a consequence I wasn't as invested what happened to them. I mean, I basically went through a box of tissues with the second book, but I didn't even cry once while reading The Winners (and trust me, there are plenty moments that would fit the bill). It might just be because I've been in a strange reading mood lately, but still.

I also wasn't a fan of the constant character and POV hopping. I don't mind multiple POVs and it's a great way to see things from different perspectives, but somehow in The Winners it was just too much for me and especially when it happens a lot WITHIN the same chapter. Spending more time with each character at a time makes it a lot easier to stay invested in them... It's true that we already know most of them from the previous books, but still. Another thing that bothered me was the constant repetition of past events; for example with what happened to Maya in the first book. It became really tedious to see the whole 'scandal' mentioned over and over again... Not to mention it slowed down the pace even more. The same goes for the importance of hockey, how much Hed and Beartown hate each other etc. etc.

As a whole, against all expectations I ended up having mixed thoughts about The Winners. I still love his writing and he is still one of my favorite authors, but I do hope he will leave the Beartown series alone in the future. Reactions have been mainly positive so far though, so it's probably just me who is the problem; I blame my recent fickle reading mood.

Fredrik Backman ´s The Winners was a worthy finish of the trilogy! Fredrik Backman has brought them back for one more emotional roller coaster of a story.

'The Winners' is the final volume of Frederik Backman's trilogy set in Beartown, a hockey-obsessed town deep in the forests of northern Sweden. The story picks up two and a half years after the events of 'Us Against You'. In the intervening years, the fortunes of Beartown have picked up - the hockey team is doing well as is the economy. Meanwhile their bitter rivals in the neighbouring town of Hed have found their prospects have declined. The book opens with a terrible storm that causes widespread destruction in the region and sets of the tension between the two towns, with dramatic consequences.

If you've read and enjoyed the first two books you will want to read this conclusion. Readers new to the series would do better to go back to the first novel ('Beartown') and read in sequence. Backman does give a decent recap of previous events within the text, something I appreciate in sequels as it's hard to remember the details of books you might have read several years ago.

The characters are interesting and usually likeable or even loveable. Despite having a large cast of characters built up in the previous books, Backman does introduce a few more here, although all with a purpose in the story. A big draw for previous fans will be finding out how things turn out for the young people they have followed since the first book, and Backman doesn't disappoint, giving insight into their future lives as well as where the finish the plot in this book itself.

The plot is compelling, particularly towards the end. I found the first half slow and it took me a while to get into it, especially given I'd already read two books in the series before. That's partly because of the sheer volume of characters and plot threads, meaning you have to read a long way before any have had enough page time to start to draw the reader in. But towards the end it's hard to put down as events spiral towards the finale.

So the characters are good and the plot is good, what's the down side? As with 'Us Against You', it's the writing style. I don't remember having the same irritation with 'Beartown', but all the things that frustrated me about the second book have continued in the third. Firstly, there are the portentous statements that act as mini-spoilers within the text - something that always drives me mad. Just tell the story. It's not a film trailer, you don't need to litter your novel with teasers. Secondly, there is the oddly repetitive style. I'm not sure if it's intentional, to create a sort of rhythm, or not. But it certainly gets on my nerves, particularly in the earlier part of the book before the plot had gained enough momentum for me to notice and care less. It isn't 'just his style' as I've read other books by him written differently, so perhaps it is conscious decision Despite that, if you can wade through it, there are plenty of little observational gems. At his best Backman is able to express things I have often thought or noticed but never been able to articulate.

Overall, the book gets a four star rating from me as I always consider plot and characters more highly than I do style. This novel just serves as proof though that to be really excellent, you do need all three.

In a Nutshell: A fitting finale to one of the best series of recent years. Slow paced, thought-provoking, exhilarating, depressing, brilliant. This is literary fiction at its finest.

This is an excellent follow-up to Beartown. Set a few years after the rape and reassessment of the Hed and Beartown communities , feud, attitude and hockey lifestyle, this book revisits those same people and finds a community trying to rebuild and improve itself. Gang, Town and family loyalties are key to the interactions and actions of the characters.
Fredrick Backman takes us by the hand and we weave our way through the towns, explore the layers of loyalty and circumstances along the way, and drops small foreshadowing detail throughout.
So we see what will happen, but not how or why. As the story unfolds more is revealed and we are pulled deeper into the torn communities, their strengths, weaknesses, prejudices and failings.
This is one of my favourite books of the year. The depth of characters and the tightly woven tale had me deeply invested and at times anxious for certain outcomes.

Thanks to #NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.

When I reviewed ‘Us Against You’, I wrote that the first quarter of the book felt as if it belonged to ‘Beartown’. This is the third book in the series, and again - a little less than half the book felt as if it belongs to the previous two books, though it does introduce some new characters very well. Not that I care actually – with writing like this, why would I?! This has been an amazing series – the best in recent times, and this book provides a great finish!

All the characters we loved in ‘Beartown’ and ‘Us Against You’ are covered – Ramona, Peter, Kira, Maya, Leo, Benji, Amat, Bobo, Ana, Zackell, Teemu & the pack. This book introduces some new characters and gives them good space – Johnny (a fireman), his wife Hannah (a midwife) Hannah, their kids, Lev (dealer), Matteo (raked with painful memories as his sister faced abuse and took her life), his mother, Mumble (now Beartown goalkeeper), Aleksandr (a new promising hockey talent from outside) and Alicia (young girl under Sune’s wings aspiring to play hockey). Many of the characters are introduced to provide us the Hed side of the story, which the previous books did not do much of.

As of the last book, Benji had moved on from Beartown, and so had Maya. A tragic demise of a person they loved and respected brings them back for a visit. The rivalry between Beartown and Hed is as is – but circumstances have changed. Beartown is the big brother with its club doing well financially. There is talk that the club at Hed will close, or quite possibly there will be a new combined club. Amat continues to aspire big, but finds that the road to the top league brings lots of challenges. Peter now works for his wife Kira, but hockey continues to be his passion. There are some local reporters who sense a big story with some of the goings-on in the Beartown club. I was a little disappointed with the fading of Peter and Sune’s character in the second book. But this book strikes a great balance of covering all of the characters, though I would have liked to see more of Sune.

The book continues to focus on many issues the previous books raised – prejudice, rivalry, egos, abuse, violence and certainly character, values & love. In an interview while discussing this series, Backman said that he set the story in a small town since you have to face the issues which come up. In big cities, you can avoid the process of dialogue, self-discovery & growth by sticking to groups who hold your point of view. Both sides merrily speak of the other side with contempt & derision on social media, and the distance among people grows. This makes perfect sense, and in this series – Backman ensures that the characters do face up to the views they hold and the choices they make. In the afterword, Backman says he gave this series all he had – and he certainly did. A large book – but great continuation and closure. In the last sections, I almost felt I was in town with the rest of the characters.

This is a series all must read!

If you are a fan of the Beartown books, you can't miss this! We catch up with Benji, Amat, Maya and Peter, not forgetting everyone else. Hard to say goodbye to such great characters, I wish this wasn't the last book in the series.

🏒The Winners by Fredrik Backman🏒

The conclusion to the Beartown series is here and Backman has delivered the finale that this fantastic series deserves.

Be prepared for all the ups and downs you'd expect if you've read Beartown and Us Against You. This book weighs in at almost 700 pages and it meanders it's way towards a conclusion that left me shocked, surprised and mourning the fact that I won't be visiting these characters again.

The characters are the strength of this trilogy. Backman's gift is that he makes us care for them despite all of their faults. The themes in these books are universal and that's why they touch you so deeply.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was an ARC from @netgalley 🙌

#netgalley #netgalleyreads #thewinners #fredrickbackman #fredrickbackmanbooks #beartown #usagainstyou #constantreader #contemporaryfiction #bookstagramuk #bookstagrammer #bookstagram

As this is the latest in the series it is hard to review it without spoiling earlier books.

This was so good. I never want this series to end. I never thought I would care as much as I do about a rural, Swedish, hockey town.

The ending devastated me.

Fredrik Backman concludes his extraordinary trilogy with its marvellous sense of location as we are once again immersed, this time for the last time, in the hockey obsessed Swedish forest towns of Beartown and Hed, and at almost 800 pages long we are in for quite a read as we catch up with the lives both of familiar characters and new. The first page comes as a shock, it is two years on, and people are finding it hard to move on from the past. The novel opens with the worst storm in a generation, the responses to which show the best of the forest folk as they help and support each other, a storm with hard hitting repercussions. I am not a hockey fan myself, but this trilogy is really all about the characters, with all their vulnerabilities, feelings, strengths and flaws, family, small town living and community, the trials and tribulations, and the challenges that life throws at us. It is this that Backman excels in, with his humanity and his indepth understanding, compassion towards and astute observations of people.

We return to and follow the characters that have embedded themselves in my memories, such as Benji, Maya, Ramona, Ana, Amat, Bobo, Alicia, and Sune, in this riveting story of the everyday lives, hockey, the struggle to survive, problematic families, being parents, difficulties in marriages, tragedies, losses, love, violence, drugs and drink, all elements of almost any small community. This is an intensely emotional heartbreaking rollercoaster with its fast moving shifts between the characters and the many different scenarios. There is the loss of the ice hockey roof, and the dark drama of the political machinations, corruption, 'dirty money', and criminality, and the rising conflict and tensions between Beartown and Hed. Through it all, I was completely engaged in the ins and outs, ups and downs (and there were many lows) of the stories of the characters that I am now forced to say farewell to.

One of the reasons why the Beartown trilogy resonates so deeply is the universality and familiarity of the themes to be found here, so many small town communities are defined by the love of their sports teams and often plagued by similar issues. Backman's true talent lies in the dazzling array of disparate characters, the good and the bad, that he created and developed through this incredible series and which had me gripped as I follow what happened to them, for example, after all that Maya had been through, I was so caught up with and impressed by her measured response to Kevin after she accidentally bumps into him again at the end. I think many readers, particular fans of the series, will love this too, even if it did have me in tears, and whilst this is a long read, the pages simply flew by. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

In a Nutshell: A fitting finale to one of the best series of recent years. Slow paced, thought-provoking, exhilarating, depressing, brilliant. This is literary fiction at its finest. Take a bow, Mr. Backman.

“All communities are the sum of their choices and all that holds us together in the end are our stories.”
You know the communities this quote refers to – Beartown and Hed. You know the stories of their residents – the famous and the not-so-famous, the achievers and the strugglers, the hockey fanatics and the uninterested. You know the choices they made and the sides they took so far. But you also know that when there are two aspects to a coin, more often than not, only one side can be the winner. If there is a winner at all.

Two years have passed since the incidents of ‘Beartown.’ Most of the characters we met in that story are still here, trying their best to put those dark days behind them and focus on what matters most in their lives – hockey, family, community. But we all know of the butterfly effect. Someone a long time ago made a wrong choice, and the repercussions of that tiny flutter will be seen now, in Beartown and in Hed, in the stormy chaos (both natural and manmade) that will drive the communities apart as strongly as will bring them together again. Will the result of these proceedings function as a stopgap arrangement or like a more permanent kintsugi? Only time will tell.

The book is written in typical Backman style. After completing this volume, I reread my reviews of ‘Beartown’ and ‘Us Against You’ (UAY) and was stunned to find how much of my feedback applies to ‘The Winners’ too. (That ought to prove how consistent Backman has been with this series.) It begins just as slowly. Even until the halfway mark, I was not sure where Backman was going with the multitude of tracks. But once the book crosses the 60% mark, the jigsaw picture starts making an appearance, and was I blown away or what! There are so many moments when I felt like yelling, "C'mon Backman! Blurt it out already!" There were also moments when I simply stared at the screen, not wanting to go ahead, too scared to confirm what I knew was coming. I found it tough to remember that this mammoth-sized tome covers just a fortnight, but it’s a fortnight that changes things forever.

For a 688 page book, having a slow first half means you are reading more than 300 pages of build-up. But even this build-up is so beautifully written. Backman inserts his literary flourishes and his musings in such a way that you can’t help but pause and ponder over them. If I were highlighting my favourite quotes, I am sure I would have noted more than a hundred. There are some dragged scenes, but that is inevitable in a book of this lengths. As always, there is plenty of foreshadowing, so you get a fair cue of what’s yet to unfurl. Let me forewarn you, not all the presages in the world can help prepare you for the outcome. The very first foreshadowing is right on page one, and it is going to shock you into disbelief.

I am sure you remember the key players – Peter, Kira, Maya and Leo; Ana; Benji and his sisters; Bobo and his family; Amat and his mom; Sune; Elizabeth Zackell; Ramona, Teemu and the Pack, and dare I forget little Alicia. The characters are etched so well that more than a year after I read UAY, I still remember all of them well and didn't need any refresher before beginning this final installment of the series. Every single one of them not just appears in this book but is also given an equal focus and a fitting send-off. Whether deserving or not, I won’t tell you, but Backman makes them all “the winners” in the way only he can. At the same time, we do meet new characters. Some of them stay nameless throughout, just like in the first two books. Of the new entrants, Johnny, Hannah and their family entrenched themselves strongly in my heart. What an amazing family!

One cannot forget the two non-human characters that created the right atmosphere throughout this series – the towns of Beartown and Hed. With the first book being named after the former, we all unwittingly aligned ourselves with the bears from Beartown. But it is through this book that we acknowledge Hed not as the villain but as the other side of the same coin. (India-Pakistan vibes, anyone?) I loved how Backman strengthened the Beartown-Hed bond without compromising on the rivalry between them. I could have done with a little less of the political elements (which were also present in UAY), but where there is money, fame, and rivalry, there is politics; wishing it away doesn’t make it disappear.

This book simply can't be read as a standalone. It is meant to be the last of a linked series, and only therein lies its purpose. If you haven't read Beartown AND Us Against You, this book won't make any sense to you. Better begin with book 1 and proceed sequentially through this amazing literary opus.

In short (hahaha, calling this review "short" has to be a joke!), this ALMOST gave me the finale I wanted for this beloved series. I am not happy with a couple of the subtracks, but I also acknowledge that they were the best possible outcomes for those characters/situations. The Backman Brain is unparalleled in plotting, and this entire trilogy proves it.

4.5 stars. Book one remains my favourite, but this is as fabulous (and ponderous) as UAY.

My heartfelt thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Winners”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Is there a more terrifying and exhilarating experience than reading for the very first time a book you've been waiting for for years?
This reminded me of teenage-me opening the last Harry Potter book for the first time, always wanting to jump a few pages ahead and know what really was going to happen!

Honestly, the Beartown series is my very favourite one. Never, in any other books (and I've read quite a lot, I dare say) have I met such profoundly human characters, and never have I felt such deep sorrow, grief or joy for them.

The Winners sets the tone very early on: you're going to cry, you know it from the first chapter, and yet, somehow, you still get caught completely by surprise when you start sobbing.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I'm keeping my review very vague on purpose (which is very hard, I just want someone to yell, shout and cry with – anyone!!!), but let me tell you: your heart will be broken, mended, broken again, mended again... and broken. again.

There are moments in this book that are so happy that it felt almost too intimate to read about them. Moments of friendship, of first love, of jokes (ties are gay!) that hit just the right way and make your heart feel all warm and fuzzy.

But as usual, Backman doesn't back up from the ugly sides of life. You'll encounter grief, pain, revenge, profound injustice.

All of this in the space of one book, not even 700 pages.

It's a breathtaking book, one that will make you want to hug all the characters and never let go, one that will make you feel things you didn't even know a book (a book! it's just paper and words!!!) could make you feel... and one that will leave you sobbing for hours (trust me, I had to hug my dog extra hard to feel slightly normal again).

I will always remember the Beartown series as the one that taught me books could make me feel so deeply, and I am very much looking forward to reading them, again and again.

Millions of thanks to Ariele Fredman, NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Actual rating 4.5 stars.

I wish I could dedicate this review to Benji, this tough and apparently indifferent boy whose heart is bigger than anyone else’s. Sadly, I can’t because I’d spoil too much. Oh, Benji …

I’ve said it a million times; I don’t like third-person, present tense writing. Period! Until Fredrik Backman comes along with his helicopter-written stories. Bam!! Suddenly I don’t care because I’m in awe.

Fredrik Backman just pulls you in, switching from left to right, jumping from one character to the other, telling so many things we know but keep buried deep inside. About parenthood, about politics, about expectations, about rage and grief. He’s the master of the masters in pinpointing those topics. But what about Beartown, I hear you think? What about Maya, Ana, Bobo, Amat, Leo, and of course Benji? What about them?

I hoped that The Winners would be the best conclusion of the Beartown series I could have hoped for. And in a lot of ways, it is. But … there was one thing I was mad about. I was so disappointed and can’t even tell why because of spoilers. So, I decided to rate this final book 4.5 stars and rounded it down.

So, Beartown and its people …

When I read the first page, my heart immediately thudded in my throat, and all I could think of was no, no, no!! The Winners is set two years after the second book, and so much is happening. The story starts with a massive storm, and I felt the rage of this storm in the people of Beartown and Hed until this rage entered my heart, almost destroying it. At times my heart lifted up, and a smile tugged at my lips, especially at that one scene at the ice rink, and the scenes afterward with the campervan. But do you know this ache when you almost cry out of love and know it will end? So, when the blow came, my rage came tumbling back and peaked, and my heart cried no, no, no! Alicia, the young playful, and innocent girl, helped mend my heart a little, just a littler. And therefore, I dedicate this review to Alicia and the boy who lay next to her on the ice rink. Aw, how I loved them and will always love them …

4+

Whilst some part of me was thrilled to be back in Beartown, there was another part that wasn't ready for this all to be over.
Backman weaves his story so well, bringing in new faces and stories, and blending them perfectly with old stories and faces.
I hadn't realised how much I missed Ana, Maya and Benji until they were in front of me again.
I will admit, before the end, I shed more than a few tears.
It's a big book, but I could have happily had a few more.