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Beartown: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Now an HBO Original Series
“You’ll love this engrossing novel.” —People
Named a Best Book of the Year by LibraryReads, BookBrowse, and Goodreads
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People, a dazzling and profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.
By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals—and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown.
This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.
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“Ireland narrates in a remarkably adaptable way; her chameleon voice is devoted to developing character, and she’s so effective that she makes the story come to the fore… Ireland nimbly skates her own way through a novel that is gorgeously written, meticulously plotted, and nearly perfectly performed. This one is not to be missed. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“With chameleonlike fluidity, narrator Marin Ireland embodies the unique residents, from posturing youth to jaded hockey coaches. She expertly conveys the layers of the characters’ fear and anger as they desperately search for answers. Ireland’s low-pitched rasp communicates the unforgiving landscape of Beartown, which teeters on the brink of disaster.”
— Library Journal (audio review) -
"[A] slow burn of a novel about a community that pours all its hopes into a youth hockey team. Think Friday Night Lights for Swedes.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“The residents of Beartown place all their hopes on their ice hockey team, but a player’s violent crime threatens to tear the town apart.”
— BookPage -
“The sentimentally savvy Backman takes a sobering and solemn look at the ways alienation and acceptance, ethics and emotions nearly destroy a small town and young people.”
— Booklist -
“Lest readers think hockey is the star here, it’s Backman’s rich characters that steal the show, and his deft handling of tragedy and its effects on an insular town.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Part coming-of-age novel, part study of moral failure, and finally a chronicle of groupthink in which an unlikely hero steps forward to save more than one person from self-destruction. A thoroughly empathetic examination of the fragile human spirit, Backman’s latest will resonate a long time.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
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An April 2017 LibraryReads Pick
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick for April 2017
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A BookPage Top Pick for May 2017
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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New York Times bestseller
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A 2018 Audie Award Finalist for Best Fiction Narration
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A 2017 LibraryReads Favorites of the Favorites selection
Beartown Listener Reviews
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kim topping, 4/13/2022
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Linda Smith, 7/5/2019
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frances, 4/15/2019
About Fredrik Backman
Fredrik Backman is a Swedish author of the New York Times bestselling novel Beartown, as well as A Man Called Ove, and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here, among others. His books are published in more than forty countries and have sold more than ten million copies.
About Marin Ireland
Marin Ireland is a voice artist who has won five Earphones Awards as well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Female Narration in 2020. She is an award-winning actress known for her starring role in the Broadway show Reasons to Be Pretty, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She has appeared in a number of off-Broadway shows and television series, including Homeland, Unforgettable, The Killing, The Following, and others.