The Scandal is the British title for Beartown, a remote northern town in Sweden, a place in a cycle of economic decline and a community with an unabashed primal tribal obsession with its junior ice hockey team. This is a dark and cold town where everyone knows everyone. A hockey team from whom much is expected and demanded, instrumental in defining the identity of a wide array of characters that inhabit this superlative novel, each providing their pivotal piece to the story. Backmann has truly outdone himself in how he exposes and asks the deepest questions of his characters and the community. It begins with a teenager committing a shocking act that sets the scene for how this comes to be, and the consequent reverberations that splinter Beartown apart as people come to sit on one side of the fence or the other. It is about the complications and difficulties of doing the right thing in the face of those willing to overlook justice and condone the unacceptable for the apparent 'greater good' of the team and the town.

We come to understand the sacrifices, stresses and strains of being on the hockey team, the rivalries, the different values of the coaches, the aggressions, the friendships, the parties and the star team player for whom the only thing that matters is to win. There are the demanding expectations of the team by the rest of the community and their hopes that it will revive the town from its path to potential oblivion. Involvement in the team offers an escape from the complexities and difficulties of real life for the team and its supporters. There are insights into the families of the players, the business sector and others. We see the problem of unwavering adulation and the inability of players to emotionally handle this and contributing to morally problematic behaviour. We see Maya's pain, resilience and courage, her reasons for sleeping at her friend, Ana's home regularly. The wisdom of Amal's mother in emphasising honesty, kindness and for the need to do good. There are so many notable characters from Benji and the amazing Ramona as we see if Beartown is capable of delivering justice with bated breath.

One of the major reason Backmann's novel is so powerful and successful is that he taps into the universality of passion for sport. The characters with their maelstrom of reactions and feelings reflect their prevalence in any team in any sport and their supporters connecting every reader to the story. Into this background Backmann throws a metaphorical grenade that rocks an entire community, and this grenade is based on the true realities in a world where some sports team members have engaged in precisely the same kind of despicable behaviours outlined resulting in communities facing similar issues. This is a multilayered narrative that resonates on virtually every level. Backmann's characters and their development is simply masterful. The author managed to wring a wide range of heartfelt emotions from me, including anger and outrage. This is a story that takes on dark, complex, harrowing issues and deals with them with depth, candour and wisdom. A must read book that I cannot recommend highly enough. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

I like the way Fredrik Backman brings his characters to life, so you feel like you know these people and want the best for them. The Scandal is different from his other earlier books. Not as lighthearted but equally good. Though I prefer his more humorous works like A Man called Ove and my favourite, My Grandmother Sends Her Regards.

The opening line had me hooked straight away:

<i>'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there.'</i>

This story is about hockey. And it isn't. Whilst I know nothing about Hockey, that element of the tale was a well-chosen backdrop to the events that happen in Beartown; a town that loves hockey. Whilst there isn't a big 'twist', there's definitely a scandal and watching ho it unfolds and how people react, was intriguing. Whilst the end wasn't quite what I expected given the beginning, I enjoyed it. The book itself did feel a little overly long and I initially felt it could do with an edit to reduce it slightly but now I'm not so sure; perhaps the level of detail was appropriate. Overall a 3.5/5.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book but I adored it. Although this story is based around hockey, you do not have to enjoy hockey (or even know anything about it) to love this book. The story focuses more on the way the sport is the life and soul of the town rather than on the sport itself.

There are many characters in this book, but it doesn't feel overwhelming as many multi character books do. They all feel important to the story and very different from one another.

Many different subjects are brought up throughout the book, which will cause a rollercoaster of emotions - sadness, joy, anger, hope to name a few.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. Whether you love or hate sports is irrelevant, this is a story about a small town trying to cling to the only thing they have left that separates them from every other town with diminishing industry and tourism.

I was unable to read the book as it has a lot of letters missing - I think it's due to the conversion to kindle.

I'm going to start this review by laying my cards straight on the table. 1) I'm not a huge fan of sports and 2) I have this (probably unreasonable) aversion to translated literature. So you'd think The Scandal, set amidst the ice-hockey fanatical Beartown, and written by Swedish author Fredrick Blackman, wouldn't be high on my list of recommendations. But both you and I would be wrong.

The translation is beautifully done; honestly my reluctance has been borne out of previous experiences which left me actually giving up on books, something totally foreign (no pun intended) to me. So it is important to mention it as far as I'm concerned, particularly if you've had the same experience as me. The writing weaved me into the town and its occupants, so that I totally understood their love for their hockey team, and saw how this manifested itself into their lives and actions. 'The Scandal' when it happens, manages to shock without being surprising, and the way the town reacts unfortunately seems set in stone even before it has surfaced.

The characters themselves are as well-known to me as the people I've met throughout my life. Whilst some pleasantly surprised me, most fulfilled their inevitable roles as they would have done in any other familiar scenario. The pack (or team) mentality unfortunately is sometimes inescapable to all but the brave.

I did like they way Blackman led me slowly, yet purposefully, towards the scandal, and I found myself anxiously turning those pages to find out exactly what had happened to lead to the confrontation in the forest. Mind you what did happen could, to my mind, have been any one of a number of equally horrifying events, which would I feel have had the same fall-out. There is the sense of a pressure cooker just waiting for its inevitable release.

If I'm being really picky I perhaps could have done without some elements of the ending, but that should in no way detract from what a thoroughly great read The Scandal is. Terrific.

I'm not sure the reason for the name change, but in my opinion, Beartown - the original title was more suitable to the content. The new title - The Scandal - suggests a very different book, And while this novel has been heaped with praise, and there is no faulting the writing, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the story; it takes so long to go anywhere, and when it did, I'd almost lost interest. There is also a lot of head hopping, which means we get too many perspectives. This dulls the mystery, instead of building it, though I feel some fault lies with the publisher who seem to be attempting to sell this as a mystery/thriller, instead of the slow, brooding drama that it is.

For fans of the atmospheric slow-burner. 3.75 stars

Well written, but it made for uncomfortable reading, being transported into a town under the influence of group-think, and what it means to stand against a lie. A good drawing of the individual characters, but it wasn't a pleasant read.

I loved this book. I've recommended it to a number of people and I can't wait for the rest of the series.... Go Beartown

Could not get this format correct for my ereader so could not read.

Clever premise and the story builds well, suspense of sorts and lots of characters coming together. Written in a style that reads very easily and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended.

A young girl is raped by the star of the local ice hockey team in a small Swedish town called Beartown, where ice hockey is everything. Future expansion and employment in this depressed area in the middle of the forest depends on the success of their team, which is built mainly around this athlete and the sponsorship provided by his wealthy family.
This is the scandal which threatens the team and the whole town’s future. However, it is how the people react to the rape accusation, who they chose to side with and how differently they treat the victim and their star athlete, which is the real scandal.
The novel begins by stating that late one evening a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead and pulled the trigger. So throughout the story there is a sense of foreboding as the drama unfolds until we eventually learn who the parties were in the shotgun incident and what the consequences were.
It is a well written, engaging story of family, love, teenage angst, bullying and violence. It is a story filled with heart and emotion. Not a lot of action happens in it, yet everything happens in it.

I requested this book from NetGalley because the Swedish author, Fredrik Backman, also wrote “A Man CalleD Ove” which was highly rated.. Unfortunately I should have done some research on that book first to see if this latest novel was likely to be one that I might enjoy.. Sadly it turned out not to be. My Kindle tells me that I’ve read 40%, but I just couldn’t struggle on any more. I came back to it twice after reading other books, but felt as if I was trudging through soft sand.

Principally one should have an interest in and understanding of ice hockey. I have neither. The book is set in a small run down town in a forest in the back of beyond in Sweden. Here the obsession of all the inhabitants is ice hockey and more particularly the town’s team.. There is a large cast of characters, too many I often felt, all hockey players, ex players, managers, coaches, their families, financial backers and just plain supporters. It’s all anyone seems to care about or live for. Secondly the book moves at a very slow pace and nothing seems to be happening.. I know that slow TV is now fashionable and even slow radio, but this is slow reading. To be fair to the author he is gradually building up his characters to show how they all contribute to the situation when it happens - - - - I think, But I just couldn’t wait that long.. Thirdly, and this is nothing to do with the author or his work, the digital copy from NetGalley had a serious fault running right through it, the first time that this has ever happened to me. The letter f was always missing and usually fl. To begin with I treated it as a rather fun guessing game ,but I’m afraid that this soon wore a bit thin and descended into irritation. But this wasn’t the reason that I failed to get even half way through this novel for which I must apologise. It’s down to my personal taste and others may well see qualities in this work that I missed.

A thought provoking book about blame and how we allocate it. The whole town become implicated in a terrible event and have to decide which side of the line to fall- with the glory and reputation of a favourite hockey player, or with a vulnerable young lady who needs their trust. It's easy to identify with most of the characters which makes this a vaguely terrifying read. You long for some characters to see themselves in a different light and celebrate when characters you had little faith in prove you wrong. An honest account of how people are all flawed but ultimately need to stand up and have faith in their choices. What I liked was the fact that the answers were not all black and white and choosing between 'good' and 'evil' was suddenly not just black and white. Heart breaking but often uplifting. Very thoughtful in topic though sometimes a little drawn out.

Recommended for fans of the likes of Jodi Picoult and Lionel Shriver.

Ah man, so so so much to talk about.

Let me start off with saying that this was an emotionally rollercoaster that I didn’t want to get off of.
I have to confess that when I look at movies that are purposely designed to grab your heart by the fist and bounce it against the wall for two and a half hours (Million Dollar Baby, My Sisters Keeper come to mind. The latter of which I didn’t even bother watching, so basing my opinion on the premise alone) are simply not realistic. The writers (both novelist if applicable, and screenplay writers) purposely try affect us as deeply as they can that there simply isn’t anything enjoyable about the experience. Well at least that is my opinion.

Was my heart wrenched at times? Sure. Did I have to endure numerous emotional ups and downs? Loads of times. But most of all was the experience worth every prose, every dialogue, every description, and every single word? HELL YES. This book offers so much. It’s beautifully crafted in an environment that may seem over the top, but is yet made so tangible and so realistic that you feel like one of the community.

Let me again be honest. When provided with the end point as an opening stanza and working your way back to that end point seemed exceptionally ominous to me at the start. I felt I had this heavy overpowering shadow cast over me as I started reading the book, feeling that I couldn’t invest totally in the characters or the story, or fully enjoy happy moment, as I knew that the rug was going to be swept out from under my feet at the end. Somewhere along the line though the writing takes over and although it was always in the back of mind it didn’t hinder the experience at all, and in fact it only exemplified the enjoyment nearing the completion.

The characters were rich. The community ethos, palpable. The emotions felt like my own. Every chapter was a heart transplant (quote plagiarised from Backman )
The book definitely had me crying at times (which was normally on the train home), and smiling like an idiot at other times.

That was (insert the answer to ‘What is the second best thing in the world?’) incredible.

Great book. Brilliant plot and main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Very enjoyable.

Great read, really got into the story, even learnt a bit about hockey.

Bit predictable and took a while to get going. Once the event happened things really got going. Great character insights. Excellent book.

Beartown. Deep in the Swedish forest, beyond the regional town of Hed. Beartown lives for ice hockey. Every child grows up learning the sport; the best go on to play for the Juniors and the A Team. The local businessmen come together to sponsor the team; the former heroes get coaching jobs. It is the only social scene in town, and without it, Beartown will die. On the other hand, there’s a new hockey academy being set up, and if Beartown can get a good enough run in the hockey cup, the academy might just be located in the town…

The opening of the novel brings us gunshots in the forest. The novel will tell us how we got there.

What follows is a study of a one industry small town. In this case, it is the ice hockey club, but it could just as easily have been a pharmaceutical factory, a naval base or a university. It is about the corruption that comes when a town becomes so dependent on one thing that it is willing to set aside personal morality for the greater good of that club/industry/employer.

The Scandal brings multiple narrators and perspectives as we move from house to house, room to room, following a huge cast of characters. Some of them are in the elite – the group directly linked to the club – whether the General Manager, a coach, a senior-team player or a sponsor. Then there are the characters at the next remove – the parents, the kids who will probably not make the grade. And then there are the bottom feeders – those with no direct connection to the club, but whose economic survival is tied to supporting those who do – the publican, the former player, the policeman, the teacher. This is a volatile hierarchy. It is hard to climb, but easy to slip down through transgressing against the majority. Pretty much everyone, though, is despicable in some way. It is a violent, competitive, greedy society that brings out – and rewards – the very worst in people.

Right now, as the Juniors are putting together a good cup run, there is a level of excitement that is reaching fever pitch. Any semblance of sanity is set aside as the club players and officials strut around like cocks of the walk. The second half of the novel deals with the fallout as this hubris meets reality head on. The outcome is in genuine doubt.

The Scandal does some things very well. The sense of place, of isolation and confinement is done well. The passion and brutality of the sport is brought to graphic life. The overall concept is subtle and well done.

But on the debit side, the novel is slow, repetitive and some of the characters are insufficiently delineated. In particular, Peter and David (GM and coach) are too similar despite being positioned as personal opponents; some of the hockey players blend into one; and I swear there is one generic wife (a lawyer called Kira or Kia depending on context) who is shared by everyone. The other major debit, and it is a big one, is that the ending seems to be deliberately enigmatic even though the bulk of the novel is grounded in complete realism. Given that the whole novel is set out to depict events leading up to the gunshots, it would be nice to find out in the end who had wielded the gun and who or what had been shot – because the beginning and the end don’t appear to match.

This is a classic 3½ star novel. Better than average, promising to be great but just not quite getting there.

I loved this book. So emotional and hard hitting! I would wholeheartedly recommend. It dealt with a really hard issue so sensitively and saw everyone come through changed in some way.

I could not put it down - literally!