Beartown: a Scandinavian town slowly dying
in the northern forest, its industry in decline and the glory days of its ice
hockey A-team well past. The one bright
spot is the youth team, spearheaded by a rare talent, backed by teammates
willing to put their bodies on the line, coached by an ex-player with an
unquenchable thirst to win, supported by intimidating fans, and financed by the
few local businessmen still making money.
Then there is general manager, Peter
Andersson; another ex-player who made good, getting into the NHL in Canada
before injury and a personal tragedy brought him back to take charge of the
club he loves. He has to respond to all
those competing interests; keep the lid on the pressure cooker; balance current
needs with past loyalties and future prospects.
Quite a task, but he is not the only one with such choices.
The book starts slowly; there is no need to
rush in Beartown, unless you have your skates on. So we meet a large cast of characters, but it
is done at a steady pace and with such skill as to enable easy assimilation. Each has distinctiveness and depth. We come to understand the players and their
roles on and off the ice; the coaches, parents, friends and teachers who, push
them on or pull them back; the movers and shakers in the boardroom with their
manoeuvring and plotting; and others on the fringes, resentful at their exclusion
from, or dismissive of the folly of, the town’s obsession.
But these undercurrents are suddenly brought
to the surface when a shocking incident polarises opinion. Compromise and accommodation goes out of the
window as sides are taken and violence threatens to spread from the rink to the
streets and the forest.
It is atmospheric and absorbing, told mainly
with the immediacy of the present tense with the odd flashback and occasional
foreboding future reference. By the end
the reader knows Beartown as well as anyone living there, and cares just as
much as anyone about the fate of the town and the prospects of its residents.
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