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How Does 'Beartown' End?

I just finished reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman and felt emotionally exhausted after that final hockey game and the devastating choices the characters make.
2025-06-26 15:52:26
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11 Answers

Best Answer
Chiko Apatsa
Chiko Apatsa
It seems you are asking for spoilers for the ending. The town comes together to support their local hockey team after the scandal surrounding assaults on women, with a focus on solidarity and quiet hope for change rather than a neat and tidy ending for all characters. If you like stories that explore the tensions in a community and the personal loyalties of the individuals within it, ‘Taken By The Wolves’ is an alternative that could be of interest. It follows a single woman as she is taken by a pack of werewolves and has to navigate their brutal politics and fierce loyalties in order to survive, and to discover her place within the pack.
2026-07-31
Nora
Nora
I found the ending to ‘Beartown’ so realistic to my own experiences of growing up in a small, very sports-orientated town. The way that Maya deals with her trauma through her music instead of resorting to violence was so unexpected but so lovely. The way that her guitar became her way of defiance to those who wanted her to be silent was wonderful. Kevin might have got away with what he did through the eyes of the law but Backman has certainly ‘imprisoned’ him with his guilt.

For me the lasting impression of Amat, the working class hero, of hockey to first discover the corrupt darker side of the sport he loved and then joyously skate off into the sunset, across a tranquil lake, to pursue his love of the sport independent of any talent scout. The impressions of other secondary characters such as Ana and Bobo also left a lasting impression of how their trauma affected others.

It’s worth a read if you’re in the mood for another great story of struggling to find power in the face of injustice and finding a way to rise up and use your voice against systemic oppression – read ‘The Hate U Give’ by Angie Thomas and meet Starr, a completely different kind of heroine but another very strong and amazing young woman.
2025-06-27
Lila
Lila
I just finished reading 'Beartown' by Fredrik Backman. And I have to say, the end was devastating. The divisions in the town caused by the accusations of rape, take a big toll on all the characters, but in the end the star player of the hockey team Kevin is saved by the community's fanatical idolization of hockey. The girl who was raped, Maya, confronts him in a private setting. She has the strength to demand he confesses. And when he does, she lets him go. Not because she has forgiven him. But because he now has to live with what he did. And that must be worse than any other punishment. The rest of the characters have to come to terms with their roles too. Her father Peter for example first resigns as general manager of the team because he sees how corrupted the hockey-obsessed community is. The final scenes are heartbreaking. But there is also hope. Maya has found her voice again and she's playing guitar again. And a new generation of players are skating on the ice of the frozen lake. Backman shows how things remain the same, but also how there is a chance of change.
2025-06-29
Jonah
Jonah
Backman’s study of collective morality in Beartown culminates in the failure of the main institutions to serve individual members. The hockey club’s board protects its reputation to fail in justice to Kevin even when all evidence points to his guilt. His confrontation with Maya is the emotional heart of the book, because in order to avoid being complicit in Beartown’s usual violence, Maya could not have shot him. Instead, she arms Kevin with the truth and he is destroyed by his own conscience.

This subplot combines well with the main story to again illustrate that the biggest problem in Beartown is not that hockey is played but how it is used by many residents of the town. This is exposed when Benji is forced out of the closet and brutally beaten by a group of young men. The reaction of the town is to be horrified by Benji’s gayness and not by the rape committed by players on the hockey team. Benji eventually leaves Beartown as he too cannot stand the toxic masculinity that pervades life in the town. His departure from Beartown mirrors that of Maya.

If you’re interested in further study of sports and their influence on society, I can recommend Friday Night Lights for American football.
2025-07-02
Risky Maulana
Risky Maulana
A number of readers have expressed dismay that the novel is a ‘misery fest’ and ends on a depression-inducing note. In my view, the novel is not intended to be pleasant. It unmasks the protective systems that enable predators to operate within closed idolizing systems, and the novel is none the better for a ‘happy ending’ to Maya’s story. The depression that the reader will feel at the end of the novel is quite justifiable. What is noteworthy about this novel is that, rather than somehow wrapping up the pain and difficulties of Maya’s experiences with a bowstring, the author trusts his reader to deal with the painful and unfinished aspects of real life as they are played out in the novel.
2026-07-31

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