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!

A simply stunning book. This is not just a story about hockey. It's much, much more than that. This is Beartown, a town that's down on it's luck. Business is slow, times are hard and pretty much the only thing that unites the town is their love of ice hockey. But one night the star of the junior team commits a crime that impacts on everyone and the townsfolk have to decide where their loyalties lie. We meet the coaches and their wives and families, the players and their families, and the bar owner and her clients. The writing is just amazing - sharp, sparse and beautiful. There were moments as a reader when I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. You feel the humanity and struggles of every character (yes each and everyone one because they are all an integral part of the story). The ending offers hope for the future, that the town will move and that in 10 years time people will recover and be stronger. Unmissable.

This is the first Fredrik Backman book that I have read and I intend to read more from this author. The Scandal was about a small town ice hockey team, a sport that I know nothing about. The build up of the story was interesting for me. There was a lot of likeable characters in this story. A slow build up to a well written story.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed A Man Called Ove and hoped that this book would be as good. Maybe it is because I am not into sport. It did not totally draw me in. I like to be totally immersed in a book and feel some empathy with at least a few of the characters. I felt unable to do that with this book.

This is an absolutely fantastic book. It is like Friday Night Lights, but with hockey, but much, much better. There is quite a big cast of characters but you get to know each of them well. No one is left to be a cartoon cutout. It definitely gave a good understanding of life in a small, far Northern town. The tension builds nicely, I read it late into the night several times. It could generate good discussions about right and wrong, parental guilt, friendships, loyalty. I feel bereft to have finished it, the best book I have read in a long time. (and I read a lot of books!).

I have only recently come across Backman’s books by picking up A Man Called Ove (and instantly kicked myself for not doing so sooner). The Scandal is a very different book in many ways, but shows off Backman’s innate skill of portraying human nature in its rawest form. May it be through a lovable curmudgeon like Ove, or through the many varied characters of Beartown, who jump from the pages like flesh and blood people I have known all my life. Absorbed in the story, I no longer felt like a reader, but a participant. I could describe Beartown to you as if I had walked the icy streets in the dark myself, so vividly did it play out in my mind.

If anyone had told me even a week ago that one day I would swoon over a book about hockey, I would have laughed in their face. I am not a sporty person – ask my husband! Whilst he can sit for hours watching the golf (and what is more boring than golf on TV, honestly!), I struggle to point out the difference between football and tennis. The closest I ever came to being sporty was giving birth to one of my children on football grand final day, and neither my husband nor the doctor (who arrived in the birthing suite dressed in his team’s colours and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like: “Couldn’t you at least wait until half-time?”) have ever fully forgiven me. But saying that, whilst hockey features very strongly in Backman’s book, the story is about so much more. The themes that particularly stuck out for me were about the responsibilities of parenthood, of peer pressure, of trying to belong to something. The phrase: “We can’t protect our children” stuck in my head for days – who, as a parent, hasn’t felt that way when your child was hurting and you couldn’t fix it, pave the way for them? Backman has a way of exposing people’s deepest fears that will resonate with readers of all backgrounds and ages, as we see a little bit of us in each character we encounter.

The story is told in many different POVs, and some of the various characters couldn’t be more different. In a book culture which seems to favour unlikeable characters at the moment, Backman’s strength lies in making even the most unlikeable characters sympathetic, even just in the tiniest spark of humanity shown in small acts of kindness or contrition. Despite themes that are troublesome and disturbing, each and every human being has some redeemable characteristics that stop the reader from being able to hate them – even though I wanted to at times! So despite the battle lines being drawn and a town coming to the brink of disaster, the one message that shone through for me was always that of hope, and forgiveness. I loved the way Backman seamlessly switches POV without losing the flow of the narrative, which added a new dimension to the book by exploring different perspectives of situations encountered. Each voice was authentic, and Backman strips his characters bare, exposes their deepest thoughts and feelings for everyone to see. There aren’t many books that can make me cry, but I sobbed unapologetically through this one, which felt strangely cathartic by the time I got to the end.

The Scandal (or “Beartown”) was easiest one of the best books I have read all year, which took me on a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster ride like only few books can. Whilst hockey features strongly in the story, this book is about so much more than sport. Tapping right into the heart of small town life, the book explores what makes ordinary people tick and strips its characters bare until their raw emotion is exposed for everyone to see. With a variety of POVs and small snippets of wisdom and insight sprinkled among the pages, readers from different walks of life will be able to relate to various aspects of the story. A must read – very highly recommended!

Another book that was painful to finish. There were too many characters and I didn't care about any of them. A Man Called Ove was so much better than this disappointment.

A number of characters in this book suggest if you don't love hockey you wouldn't understand. This is a shame as I have no interest at all in ice hockey and therefore skim read parts of the book which I didn't understand. At its core there is an interesting story of an isolated community and the rifts which occur when a teenage girl accuses a boy of rape but for me this conflict was lost in the telling as it was swathed in hockey and sporting language and references.

<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.'</i>

That (and the cover) was all I read before I clicked 'request' on NetGalley. I didn't read anything else about the book at all, which is very unusual for me; I'm generally quite circumspect in my reading decisions. But this had me hooked. I'm not sure why. There are so many enthralling one liners for books that don't turn out to be that good that I always make sure I read more than the 'tag-line.'

Actually, in this case, I'm glad I didn't. Because I would have discovered that it centres around ice hockey. A sport. Sporting books are really not my thing: I don't play sports and watching them on TV or supporting a team is my ideal of hell. Luckily, no one else in my household watches sport, but if they did I'd retreat upstairs with a book instead. So, I wouldn't have requested it, and I would never have read this book.

I'm so glad I didn't read further.

Okay, it's 'about' ice hockey. But it's not, not really. It <i>centres</i> around ice hockey, but that's not what the book's about. Of course it's not. So, what is it about? How can you answer that? There's never one single thing a book is about (unless it's completely one-dimensional). This book covers an entire kaleidoscope of issues: from determination and perseverance, bullying and racism, powerful white men and powerful white women, friendship and rivalries, disappointment, hard upbringings, good upbringings, good choices, bad choices. Not really about sport.

Did I mention I'm glad I didn't read any more of the blurb?

Originally, published under the name of 'Bear Town,' this Swedish writer takes us on a whirlwind ride. (And a shout out to the translator whose name I can't find anywhere. I've mentioned it before, and I'll keep mentioning it, but translators deserve more credit. I can't even find their name! I think that's not on.) Bear Town is rural, down-trodden, forgotten. It's a small town in a big forest: no one's interested in it. Financially, it's a terrible place to live, but people still do - from the richest in their big detached houses, to the poorer (mostly immigrant) population in flats. But Bear Town wants to make it big, free itself from isolation. And there may be a chance.

Through the teenage hockey team.

What a heavy weight to fall on the shoulders of these teenagers, each struggling in their own ways with all the problems that puberty brings, and more besides. The strain also falls onto the coaches and the managers, mixing with their problems and allegiances. But this year the team are amazing. There's small, fast Amat; Benji who has no fear of pain; Bobo, big and overpowering; Filip, new and unsure; Lars; William. And Kevin. Kevin: the superstar, their sure ticket to making Bear Town a 'real' place again, a mark on the map.

There are other characters too, the women. Because hockey is a 'men's' sport, the women are left to organise, to cheer them on, to clean the rink, to make the coffee, to drive the cars. But these aren't any women. They're from Bear Town. And if there's one thing that can be said about people from Bear Town, it's this: they're strong.

There are some stunningly portrayed relationships throughout this book: Kevin and Benji. Maya and and Ana. Sune and Peter. Benji and his sisters, particularly Gabby. Amat and his mother. Maggan and Filip's mum. Fatima and Kira. Benji and a nameless musician.

Nothing could go wrong for this team, they have everything going for them. Except that something does happen. Something that turns the town upside down. And the old saying 'don't mix hockey with politics' just doesn't hold true anymore.

I highlighted lots of lines from this book on my e-reader, which I don't usually do. There were a LOT of good one-liners. Great ones, in fact. But it made me wonder: can an author rely on those pithy statements? Do we need so many sentences to make us really think; is there a limit to the amount of soul-searching you can pack in one book? I think the answer is yes; some of the lines could have been left out, just to balance the book slightly; it feels overwritten. Still, here are a few:

<i> What happens to a town that doesn't grow? It dies.

People are good at feeling shame in this town. They start training early.

How big is the world when you're twelve years old? Both infinite and infinitesimal.

[His] mum always said that every child is like a heart transplant. [He] understands that now.

Sometimes life doesn't let you choose your battles.

The love a parent feels for a child is strange. There is a starting point to our love for everyone else, but not this person. This one we have always loved, we loved them even before they existed.

'Do you want to hear my best advice about being a parent?' 'Yes.' '"I was wrong." Good words to know.'

There are few words that are harder to describe than loyalty. It's always regarded as a positive characteristic... many of the best things people do for each other occur out of loyalty. The only problem is that many of the very worst things we do to each other occur because of the same thing.

Every day can mark a whole lifetime or a single heartbeat, depending on who you spend it with.

All their lives, girls are told that the only thing they need to do is their best. That that will be enough, as long as they give everything they've got... Children need the lie to be brave enough to sleep in their beds; parents need it to be able to get up the next morning.

...he was immortal in the eyes of the other boy.

David hates himself for not being better than his dad. That's the job of sons.

Big secrets make small men of us.

Loneliness is an invisible ailment.

Bitterness can be corrosive; it can rewrite memories as if it were scrubbing a crime scene clean, until in the end you only remember what suits you of its causes.

Hockey is just a silly little game. We devote year after year after year to it without ever really hoping to get anything in return. We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the best scenario, is uncomprehendingly meagre and worthless: just a few isolated moments of transcendence. That's all. But what the hell else is life made of? </i>

There's a taster. There's a lot more of that. So, yes, it is melodramatic - in the extremes at times. But it is also a complete page turner. As I was reading this on an e-reader, I didn't really get an idea how long it was, but it's actually quite a hefty book at over 400 pages. Don't let that put you off. These characters and moments will stick with me. I enjoyed it immensely. And this is classed as YA, but can definitely be enjoyed by adults. Probably half the characters are adults!

Thank you Fredrik Backman. You gave me one hell of a ride.

Hey, and don't judge a book because you don't like sport. A decent book is never about one thing.

So badly redacted that I was unable to read - such hard work had to abandon.

Unfortunately I'm not able to provide a fair review of this book. I've only managed about 80 pages and have found it very character-heavy without any action to make me feel involved in the storyline.

A tricky story with a great many under stories. Small town life under the microscope and how everyone focuses on the one good thing,to the detriment of everything else.

The Scandal was superb!

The story transports you to a snowy small town surrounded with forest, you can almost feel the cold when reading it. At first I felt that the pace was slow but quickly learnt that Backman was conveying the pace of Beartown and it's inhabitants. The pace also lent itself to building momentum to the 'Scandal' that unravels.

The Scandal touches on loyalty, friendships, marriage alongside harrowing topics such as rape. Backman has peppered those topics throughout the book and provides each of character's perspective. I feel this book offers to the reader to completely get lost within it. I would recommend this to anyone to read as I felt it was brilliantly written and I didn't want it to end.

I enjoyed A Man Called Ove very much some years ago but then read rather too many books in the same vein, including Backman’s two following ones, found myself ‘all grumped out’ with curmudgeonly characters with hearts of gold, and disinclined to pick up his latest offering. Several reviewers mentioned that this new one was completely different, though, so I gave it a try. How pleased I am that I did as it is indeed a new departure for him in both subject matter and tone - much darker - yet still character-driven and utterly engaging. Terrifically well written too.

Trying not to spoil the experience for others, let’s just say it focuses on a small town in Sweden (think interminable cold winters and wild forested landscape) whose inhabitants are obsessed with ice hockey. The town’s junior team has become surprisingly successful, partly as a result of one spectacularly talented player and partly through inspired coaching and unwavering teamwork. The author has so many insights to offer - about sport and business, and their interaction, about the burden of early talent, about the nature of teamwork, its benefits for young people set against the danger of blinkered loyalty to a team-mate - that I found myself pausing every few pages to consider what he was saying to me, then rushing back to get on with the action and find out what happens.

To limit myself to one passage that particularly struck me:

‘While he was growing up everyone kept telling him he was going to turn professional, and he believed them so intensely that when he didn’t make it, he took it to mean that everyone else had let him down, as if somehow it wasn’t his own fault. …… Bitterness can be corrosive, it can rewrite your memories as if it were scrubbing a crime scene clean, until in the end you only remember what suits you of its causes.’

A really satisfying read, with quite a few loose ends to be tidied up in a sequel I understand is coming soon - can’t wait.

Gripping from the first page. the overlapping stories of the residents in this small town are all very interesting and distinguished (you won't be re-reading passagese trying to find out who is who!) Would recommend this book to others.

I'm so disappointed that though I was predisposed to love this book, I just didn't. I suspect something might be lost in the translation as the prose feels awkward and inelegant, but, more than that the narrative is so jumpy and fidgety, leaping from person to person within a few lines. Many of the characters aren't delineated but are functions of the story: the worn-out coach, the golden boy, the working mom.

I liked the ideas behind the book: questions of what it means to be a community and how that can be used in a negative fashion, how rape is still a he said/she said issue, the impact of bad economics and the left-behind, even the power politics of sport vs. the positive way it can give self-belief - but somehow all this good stuff just didn't really come together in the book.

I suspect a lot is to do with the writing style and the flattening of all the characters. Also there have been a number of YA books in recent years which have dealt with the topic of teenage rape by a high-school 'hero' in more depth and so this feels a bit like an also-ran. My first Backman and after the hype and rave reviews from Goodreads friends I'm afraid I'm left underwhelmed.

Enjoyed this one after it started a bit slow for me, but I think that's because I'm not a sports guy. However, the author did a great job getting over the importance of hockey to the small town and then spiraling that into character motivations for the rest of the story. Thumbs up to this book!

Not your usual book by Fredrik Backman although as always it is very thought provoking. It tells the story of a small town which is slowly dying. This town thrives on hockey and when a heinous crime is committed on the night of the junior semi-finals relationships are severely tested. Beautifully written , you can feel the cold of the rink and the town. Well worth a read but not an easy one. Certainly makes you wonder. What would I do in any if these positions?

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin for an advance copy of The Scandal, a novel about relationships in a small Swedish town.

The novel opens succinctly -

"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 first came across this novel after reading some rave reviews of a novel called Beartown and discovered that it is called The Scandal in the UK. Well, whatever the title this is a great read and the reviews are correct.

The first half of the novel concentrates on setting the scene. Beartown is a fading small town in a Swedish backwater where ice hockey is the main preoccupation and the success of the junior team in reaching the national semifinals brings a pressure not everyone can handle. Perhaps the team's success will encourage the council to build its proposed ice hockey academy in Beartown rather than the larger, neighbouring Hed, bringing much needed investment. It's a lot for 17 year old shoulders to bear but mostly they want to win.

Mr Backman does an excellent job of bringing it all to life, the economically deprived town and its inhabitants, the social divide between the haves and have nots, the pressure the rich sponsors exert on the running of the team, the pushy parents, the fading stars of the last great run at the championship, the politics of it all, the hopes and dreams of the current stars and above all, the personalities. The town and club may be small and in the grand scheme of ice hockey unimportant but the themes are universal.

I love the characterisation, which makes the novel. Nothing is as it initially seems and as it unfolds the first impressions the characters make are confounded by events, secrets and actions. The eponymous scandal, when it finally arrives, is slightly mundane. I'm not making light of something horrible, more that there is a certain inevitability to it and it's something that happens more frequently than anyone of us would like. The backlash is where the drama lies. I can't praise Mr Backman enough for what he does with it. No one comes out of it unscathed and only a few characters emerge with their integrity intact - many of them not the ones you would expect at the beginning of the novel.

I also like the tone of the novel. It's unusual and inviting. Mr Backman manages to adopt the distant tone of a narration and yet some of it is incredibly intimate. Wonderful.

I wasn't too sure initially about the ice hockey background to the novel as I'm not too keen on sport and know less than nothing about ice hockey but I'd like to reassure would be readers who feel the same that while hockey is everywhere in the novel it's a novel about people and situations and is a fantastic read. I never re-read books as there's too many good ones out there to try but I will probably makes an exception for The Scandal and return to it more than once over the next few years.

The Scandal is one of the best books I have read this year and have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent read.