[sg_popup id=”17″ event=”onload”][/sg_popup]If you are stopping by to find questions for your book club, please leave a note for me telling me where you are from!
Welcome to the online book club for
Beartown by Fredrik Backman.
Bear town was a very vivid book about a town where life revolves around hockey. Children play, parents work and the hopes and dreams of the future of the town rest on the sport of hockey. The pressure weighs down on them all when the junior team makes it to the semifinals. Then, a terrible act is committed by one of the star players and the people in the town must choose a side.
The characters in this book came alive very quickly and I found myself completely submersed into the town’s world. It wasn’t an easy read as the book deals with some dark topics like the death of a child, teenage drinking, rape, abusive parents, women/girls being objectified, the “boys will be boys” mentality and a gay teenager. I didn’t expect so many deep topics to be broached in one book, but I did expect some seriousness since A Man Called Ove by this author dealt with an old man trying to commit suicide until neighbors pull him back into the world.
You can discuss the questions in the comments section below on the blog or join us on Facebook.
Thanks for joining us!
- Was there any character you related to? Why?
- Have you ever lived somewhere where all the hopes of the place rested on a single event or activity? How did that affect that place?
- Peer pressure: Do you think Kevin would have raped Maya if there hadn’t been the bet?
- Maya: What would you have done in her shoes? Can you understand why she didn’t want to report it? Could you have gone right back to school?
- Did the ending surprise you? (It did for me!) Who had the power in the end? Is that a kind of justice?
- Often there are lines drawn in a town, like Beartown vs. The Hollow. Have you lived in a place like that? What side were you on? How did that affect life?
- Friendship: “You’ll never have friends like you have at fifteen.” Do you still keep in touch with any friends from that age? Did you have a special friendship at that age?
- The books shows several examples of marriages and parenting – which ones did you think were good? bad? Why?
- Overall, did you like the book? Why or why not? Have you read any of his other books?
- What’s a question I didn’t ask that you’d like to discuss?
Thank you for reading with us and stopping by to discuss Beartown by Fredrik Backman!
Join us in August to discuss In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume!