Beartown by Fredrick Backman FIC Bac

Backman is definitely one of my favorite authors!  In earlier books I was taken in by the quirky characters.  I often smiled and sometimes laughed.  There are some characters in this book who might be described as quirky - but in a different way.   When I finished this book I decided this one was about cultures - the culture of families, the culture of a small town and most importantly the culture of sports.

Beartown is surrounded by a forest.  It has shrunk over the years during hard times as many young people choose to leave.  But it is possible that everything can turn around!  The weight of that possibility is squarely on the shoulders of teenaged boys.  These boys are on the verge of winning a national championship.  Just one game left to win before that can happen.

Beartown is all about hockey - the young, the old, the men, the women - all live for the sport of hockey.  The hockey club is an important group in the town.  They basically run it and always have lots of unsolicited advice for the employees of the club.  The general manager of the club (a former superstar of Beartown) and the coaches are always under a great deal of stress.

Don't worry about this being filled with play-by-play accounts of hockey games!  It is about the people.  The young players and the adults.....and of course about this small isolated community who needs to win a championship.
    (I listened to the audiobook - it was excellent!)

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