Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fredrick Backman is such a great writer and I really enjoyed this well-written book but I was pained by the many F words and harsh language included, so am docking my rating by one star. I read this several months ago yet both the story, with its many layers, and the characters, with their complexities, are still in my mind.
Small town hockey and its impact on a community is one major element of the story. Rape is another major element of the story, but thankfully it is not graphic (a 14-year-old girl is raped by a 16-year-old hockey star and he totally gets away with it).
Goodreads reviewer, Hollis, nailed it with this statement: "It's about doing the right thing when it's the wrong thing.. and the wrong thing when it's right. Choosing family over the team even when the team is your family. And sometimes deciding that the future is more important than the now.

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