A tale of both triumph and tragedy, this is more a story of a town and its inhabitants than any one person, taking you with them on the emotional roller coaster they all ride through good and bad times.
I have to confess Fredrik Backman is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, because of the way he places you inside not just the mind, but the soul, of his characters. But even I didn’t think he’d be able to accomplish that connection when there are literally dozens of characters you live with in Bear Town. How well could you come to know any one character when its the sum of them all, including the town itself, that tell the story. Yet somehow I felt part of each of them.
From the entitled team hero I felt the indifference and resentment of not knowing what you have and taking it for granted. With brooding antihero I felt the pain of knowing exactly what you don’t have and why, and the powerlessness to change it. In the slow but sturdy jock I felt acceptance and even pride in his fate, however mundane it may appear to others. In the small but determined dreamer I felt shame turn into pride. In the mature teenage girl I felt fear and humiliation plant the seed of wisdom and strength. And with the parents I laughed, cried, loved and despaired as they remembered the hopes and dreams of their youth, the ones they had for their children, and realization that life doesn’t always go as planned but that doesn’t make it a bad life.
Most of all I felt the town. How it welcomes you and how it spits you out. How it nurtures you but keeps you from growing. How it is both the best and worst place to raise a family. Like many small towns its residents are a bit isolated, and a bit defined by that isolation. It takes a special kind of person to thrive in that environment. As a lover of small towns I appreciate, even envy, that isolation. But I also know how that isolation can become less a retreat and more a prison if you let it.
Bear Town has its attributes and its flaws, just like every other place you might choose to plant your roots. Its not immune to change, but it will fight to accept that change on its own terms. It may not appeal to everyone, but those it does appeal to sound like my kind of people.
Michele Lenard 