The Scandal (also called Beartown) by Fredrik Backman Review

Hi ForeverBookers, 

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I've finished The Scandal and it was good! It took me a while to read because it's over 400 pages and it took a while for me to write this review too.

NetGalley provided me with an e-arc of The Scandal so thanks to them for letting me read it. 

3 Stars!

The Scandal takes place in Beartown, which is in Scandinavia, in this novel. 

"Beartown isn't close to anything". This means that without hockey, the main thing that holds this community together, the people of Beartown wouldn't have anything. It's their life source. 

"Want to bet?" Kevin grins.

"100 kronor"

Lyt nods. They shake on it"

They use the kronor as their currency. This is how we know the novel takes place in Scandinavia.

It's a very sports dominated book so if that isn't your type of book, maybe don't pick this up. There is emotional stuff as well though, although it's not a romance at all! 

NOTE: There are rape scenes in this novel and it plays a huge part in the overall plot so if you're sensitive to anything to do with the topic of rape I wouldn't pick this up. Also a character is gay too. This isn't so big of a thing in The Scandal but it's there. 

The novel is about a hockey team and what happens when a "scandal" puts one of their most renowned players in jeopardy of ever playing again. The above quote while also showing the kronor evidence, is also the start of the "scandal", that the title is based upon I'd say, as Lyt, one of the hockey players is betting 100 kronor on whether or not Kevin, another hockey player will sleep with a 15 year old girl. Will he though, or will he back out? You'll have to read The Scandal to find out.

Spoilers Below...

We start the book being introduced to our characters and seeing them training for the match. I honestly thought this was so boring. I felt as if nothing was happening in the overall plot for the first half of the story. I believe this same book used to be called BearTown, and maybe still is in some places? I wouldn't have kept reading if the word Scandal hadn't been in the title, I've got to say, as that was what made me request the arc in the first place. 

We have the big, bulky guys that have always been on the team, as well as Amat who's mum, Fatima works as a cleaner at the rink. They're underprivileged. Amat is seen skating at the rink by the coach at the time and is handpicked to join the junior hockey team. 

"Skates have never felt odd to him. On the contrary, when he sticks his feet in a pair of normal shoes he feels like a sailor stepping ashore" 

shows that Amat only truly feels himself on the ice, while skating. When he's on land he's no better than anyone else. He gets bullied at first but then seems to get accepted when everybody sees just how good of a player he truly is. 

When at a party the main player of the team, Kevin gets into a little trouble when he's accused of raping a 15 year old girl, Maya who also attends. That's what the title, The Scandal means, I think. Later on in the book one of the characters calls it a scandal because it literally affects all of the hockey fans of Beartown, which is everybody residing there. 

“The council aren’t going to invest, they don’t want to put the hockey academy here after . . . the scandal".

The parents argue about the abuse scandal and who's lying and who's telling the truth. We, as the audience know what happened as it's written into the story. However, for the characters not directly involved it's all hearsay and they need to decide who to believe. This was probably the most interesting part of The Scandal for me. There were certain characters that spoke up for both sides. Kevin's team mates, apart from Amat supported him and Maya's family and best friend, Ana support her, along with Amat. 

"But Kira still doesn't know how to deal with it". Kira and Peter lost a son before the events of The Scandal. This isn't a huge part of the novel but it's brought up a few times when what happened to Maya, their daughter overwhelms them. This is continued in "Two in their beds. One in heaven". Kira has to count her children to make sure they're still there. She feels unstable in her life because of the death of her son as well as not being able to help Maya through what's happening to her.

"Amat looks up at the stands. Maya is on the steps below the cafeteria; she sees him. He's been longing for that since the first day of primary school. Now, she sees him". 

This is significant because Amat feels shut out of the team. However, when he sees Maya in the stands something clicks and he starts believing in himself more. 

"He loves that girl more than he loves hockey". Amat loves Maya. When he sees her in Kevin's room at the party, where the main plot of The Scandal begins he's shocked but he doesn't think Maya would have wanted what happened.

"That's the thing about hockey. When you go into a rink. All those sounds you only recognise if you play. And...that feeling when you walk from the locker room to the rink, that last inch when the floor turns to ice. The moment when you glide out...you have wings then".

We have a lot of these hockey central quotes throughout the book. They gave the book an overall complete feeling for me. Whenever I felt lost while reading, I'd read a hockey central quote and it would bring me back to the main story. This is what Benji thinks when he steps out onto the ice. He feels free. 

"Because you love it so much. I'd like to understand something you love". There's also a subplot involving one of the players realising he's gay. Benji comes to the conclusion that he's gay when he sees a bass player and they get to know each other. We never learn the bass players name. I liked this as it gave some mystery to the novel. I could imagine the bass player as whoever I wanted. I wasn't told he was a certain person.

"Kevin likes the fact that she's different. That her eyes never quite stop moving, that she's always watching. That she seems to know who she is. He wishes he could be like that". Kevin is jealous of the persona that Maya shows. Is this perhaps why he abuses her? We never get an answer to this question but it's what I, as the reader think. That Kevin wanted to spoil a young girl's life worse that what hockey spoilt his. 

"Hockey is never satisfied being part of your life. It wants all of it". This shows how all of the boys lives are affected by hockey. It dominates their lives.   

"The greatest reason for his love of hockey, from the very first moment he stood on a pair of skates, was the silence". This is what Peter, Maya's father thinks of hockey. As I've previously said all of the plots of The Scandal surround hockey. Hockey is the main theme. This is further demonstrated by

"It's only a game. It can only change people's lives", which let's us, the reader know that it's like hockey is the be all and end all in Beartown. If you don't like hockey, you're a nobody. There aren't any characters who hate hockey. It would have been good if there had been one character who didn't like the sport to show the differences in likes and dislikes, I think. This would have added an extra, interesting layer to the story.

Overall, I thought The Scandal was an okay read. It certainly wasn't my favourite but it wasn't my least favourite either. I found I could connect to lots of the characters so there was something in it for me. Hence, my 3 star rating. 

What did you think of The Scandal or Beartown? Did you enjoy it? Did you find anything of interest in it? 

Look forward to my next review coming soon... 

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