The Curator: reading to cry

Beartown by Fredrik Backman and a bunch of book awards announced

Feb 23, 2024

BACKMAN YOU DID IT AGAIN!

You broke my heart. You made me weep. You reminded me why I would never want to be 15 years old again.

Last week we crowdsourced loving books for happy readers. This week, we’re cutting side bangs and listening to Taking Back Sunday because one of those loving books made me emo as hell. That book is Beartown by Fredrik Backman.

If you aren’t familiar with Backman, he’s a Swedish author known for heartfelt, humorous, people-centered stories that leave you feeling emotionally shattered. The cover vibes say it all - big crayon letters, desolate landscapes with itty bitty people shadows, and soothing colors. You can just tell people will be people-ing but the whimsy obscures how much crying will be involved.

My first experience with Backman was extremely emotional, setting me up for future success. I read Anxious People in 2021 on a trip to Arizona that was unknowingly the last time I ever saw my grandmother. I finished the book after getting home, lying on my couch sobbing over a book that didn't warrant that much feeling. Besides my own emotional state, what got me was the sympathy Backman has for his characters, no matter how much they fuck up. Are you looking for adult children Mr. Backman??

Hop forward to 2024 the year of hard decisions and he gets me again. Beartown is technically about a small, cold, dying Swedish town that places all its faith in hockey as a proxy for economic opportunity and a viable future. What it’s really about is what happens when children bear the burden of crushed adult dreams. The hockey team in question is a bunch of 15- to 17-year-old boys with the chance to bring money and industry back to this isolated town in the woods with a few big wins. Natch, a pressure cooker builds until someone splits like a potato.

Beartown is a Coldplay song on a sunny day. It’s Kacey Musgraves happy and sad at the same time. It is faith in a flawed humanity in which you can’t help but recognize yourself.

Beartown is sprinkles of wisdom that are so true and clear it’s like telling all your crimes to your therapist and getting back a single phrase you can’t possibly argue with.

Everyone has a thousand wishes before a tragedy, but just one afterward.

Beartown is a Robert Frost poem where every road not taken, every decision is a pivotal moment. Foreshadowing like the above quote gives the story tension and intrigue. Kids are forced to make big choices and frequently look after the adults who use work or booze as coping mechanisms. The adults have failures and expectations while the children have pressure and no autonomy.

Let Chris Martin carry this one for you fam.

It’s not all bad though. Friendship is at the heart of this novel, and Backman does the complicated web of feelings that come with teenage friendship justice. While there are times he maybe stretches the believability of some of these kids (do they really talk like that?), his ability to capture the all-consuming need to be with your friends 24/7 is poignant and brilliant.

You never have the sort of friends you have when you’re fifteen ever again. Even if you keep them for the rest of your life, it’s never the same as it was then.

I know I’ve made quite a spectacle of how much I cried (three times) but ultimately Beartown is not the kind of masochistic upset you would get with something like A Litle Life. Rather, it’s the soul’s recognition of the universalness of being human. Everyone on Bookstagram LOVES this book. If you are in need for some soul-loving, get to this one stat.

🖤 For Fans Of: Ann Patchett, Taylor Jenkins Reid

⭐ Verdict: Backman can make me cry any day

READING →

PIRANESI. That's all you get to know for now plus this emoji clue to how it’s going —> 👀😮🥺

WATCHING →

Tokyo Vice. My god I love this show. Japanese culture is so fascinating in that they feel a responsibility to each other whereas Americans act like they are all descendants of Ayn Rand. It’s about an American journalist abroad uncovering the city's crimes while getting into a little trouble himself. A++ material.

NEW BOOKS →

A memoir compared to Joan Didion and Susan Sontag, a new thriller from a twisty suspense master, and a novel about a magically concealed town for liberated slaves.

BOOK NEWS →

The 2024 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction longlist was announced and Bookshop.org has all the titles in one spot for your purchasing needs. I don’t do a lot of nonfiction but How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair and Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein are two I’ve had on my TBR due to rave reviews.
Late to this announcement but the finalists for the National Book Awards also include Doppelganger plus personal favorites North Woods by Daniel Mason and Creep by Myriam Gurba.
Book Riot’s 25 books to read in 2024 include six from my wishlist and a new release from last week I’m excited about.
Bram Stoker awards were announced and this reminds me I still need to read The Reformatory and Black River Orchard…

RESTACK OF THE WEEK →

Is for Book Club! And I’m reading the book this time. The February Audacious Book Club selection is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, who will BE AT THE BOOK CLUB VIRTUAL EVENT! on February 27th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is now open (this is Roxanne’s link go to her page for more details).

AND CATS →

If there’s a container, they’re sitting (or fighting) in it.

SHARE WITH THE CLASS. WHAT ARE YOU READING & IS IT ANY GOOD

In Case You Missed It 🖤

I ranked everything I read in 2023 from shelfmate to swindled
I asked you to romanticize your reading life
And I discussed my Roman Empire books

This newsletter contains affiliate links. If you purchase using one of the links above, I will earn a baby-sized commission at no cost to you. Comment, share, repost, upgrade to paid, or buy me a coffee to support my work. Follow me @ thebookcreep on Instagram for pretty book pictures. Your support (monetary or not) is why I keep going, so thank you.

Share Subverse

See you around the bookshelf!

Natalie