pages: 435
heard: 1/29-31/2020
book: 7 in 2020
Life is so damn, damn, damn tough sometimes that it's almost unbearable. Even if that's the way its supposed to be. Pg 83
SYNOPSIS
After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach.
Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.
As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.
THOUGHTS
i just want to make this quick and get it over with because ive been stalling and i have other shit to get to.
phew.
this book.
this fucking book.
this story!!!!!
i don't watch hockey so i don't understand it. which means that i also don't understand if the love of the game truly goes that far. and if it does, i'm definitely out. (which i know it doesn't. at least. i hope it doesn't.)
but in this book i definitely understand that its not even about the game anymore but just about how people can go too far for the sake of their pride.
i think this is what i thought book 1 would have been about. the whole rivalry thing. but of course none of this could've happened until it was set up that way which is what book 1 was about so i guess....
i, just like book 1, also did not like this story.
i hated the violent, hurtful turn this book took.
kids beating the fuck out of each other, outing each other, others being the adults in every situation instead of the damn adults! which speaking of...OMG the turn of events!
these two dumb towns fighting each other over hockey and adults turning against each other because of a dirty politician.
a kid dies, they almost literally roast a human, kids show their dicks to a woman because grown ass adult men are bitter about who's in their team now. people who claim to be all about loyalty change their minds the instant shit doesn't go their way....
UGH!
so much!
im just glad to be done with this and i truly hope that there is no book 3 in any type of work in any freaking universe.
also, that synopsis is a bit of a lie because i will tell you this!: its not Benji who dies.
who knows what the fuck happens to him.
in book 1, i remember reading that the guitarist or whatever will one day look up at a billboard and see benji and think of their time. in book 2 he just leaves. what the fuck happens to benji to cause him to be on a billboard!?
over it.
oh! but i will say, Zachelle (Zachell? who knows i'm too lazy to look) she was probably my fave in this story!
anyway, once again i hated the story but i loved the writing.
i cant wait to dive into his other work.
jump over for some spoilers.
thanks for reading!
there's a new politician, Richard Theo, who manipulates everyone into getting him what he wants. which he does by: getting London investors to buy the factory so he can restore jobs to Beartown, saving hockey and the rink and so that in turn they make him the something of Beartown. (i forgot)
it starts with Kevin's parents divorcing. he and his mother leave one way, his dad another.
she tells him that she will never forgive him but she will never abandon him.
and that's the last you hear of Kev.
lets make bullet points of the main things because im over it.
-Bobo, Benji, Amat make the A -Team. they're good and they win every game except for both of the games against Hed. it probably also doesn't help that Benji never shows up for those games.
BOBO:
-his mother passes away and he becomes a grown ass man. cooking for his family and taking care of his siblings. and his father never makes him feel less of a man for doing "WOMAN" duties and i loved him for that.
-his mother passes away and he becomes a grown ass man. cooking for his family and taking care of his siblings. and his father never makes him feel less of a man for doing "WOMAN" duties and i loved him for that.
-he is in the A-Team but he's not the best skater. Coach Zachelle (Beartown's new coach) teaches him how and in the end makes him her assistant coach. he gets married and has kids. erm, well he has kids. it's not stated if he gets married. im just assuming.
BENJI:
-goes to his sisters bar in Hed in the beginning looking for a fight when he gets it but his sister saves his ass so to speak so that doesn't happen. then some mysterious dude makes small talk with him and they end up going back to mystery dudes place to hook up. turns out that dude is actually the new teacher at Benji's high school and ends up learning that Benj is a student, his student, as he walks into his class.
-shows Anna & Maya his island and lets him know that they can have it.
-everyone finds out he's gay.
-never shows up to the beartown / hed games. ends up leaving and who knows where he goes.
ANNA:
-she takes care of her drunk father constantly, continously, always and forever. one night when Maya texts her to meet her at the island, she is on her way when Ramona calls her and tells her that her father has headed home (code for he's drunk as shit) so she goes to him. she's trying to take him home when he falls or something and benji ends up helping her take him home. when he does that she turns to him and makes a move. he lets her down gently. she gets mad that he didnt even turn her down but instead felt sorry for her.
so he leaves and she follows him and where does he go? the teacher dudes house.
and they couldn't wait to make out so they do it right then and there at his door.
she sees this, takes a picture and then posts it everywhere.
Maya sees it and knows that its Anna that posted it because there is a little blur on her photo due to a cracked screen so she tells her that she's just like everyone else; hurting others when she doesn't get what she wants.
they are no longer friends.
-she meets Vidar in the bus now that she doesn't go with Maya to school. and they slowly but surely fall in love. and theirs would have been a great love story had he not...
VIDAR:
-he is the kid who dies in this story. (ill tell you below)
-he is the brother to the main dude from the pack, Teemu.
-he was locked up because he kept fucking people up but all in all i think it was because he took the fault for something that someone else in the pack did since they were on probation or some shit and had they gotten caught they would have gone to jail. so he took the fault. he gets bailed out because Richard the Politician pulls strings to get him out.
why is he out? the coach wants him as Beartown's goalie if they want her to coach.
------
so a bunch of shit happens.
first, Leo (Maya's brother) lights a Hed hockey flag on fire, posts the video online and then a kid from Hed finds out its him, sets him up and basically almost kills him. (i think it was Liam). the teacher Jeanette sees them and she drop kicks Liam.
so that (the fire flag) sets in motion a back and forth fight.
i don't remember why but one night, both towns meet in the middle of the woods to fuck each other up.
Benji is there of course and he's fucking people up when someone he misses is about to fuck him up. Leo of course snuck himself to the fight and fucks up the dude who was about to fuck up Benji. Benji then runs Leo out of there.
everyone takes it to mean that Benji is a wuss and starts a whole shit parade about that.
after that, some dudes in Hed are all "i wish i could see Beartown burn" to which the friend is like yes. and so they set the Beartown pub, Bear Skin, on fire NOT FUCKING KNOWING (obvs) THAT RAMONA LIVES UPSTAIRS!!!!!!!!!!
luckily Zachelle was walking by or running or whatever, sees it and rescues her.
the whole town gathers to help save the bar.
the pack knows it was Hed dudes that did this and they had been spotted so they go after them.
so the pack is chasing these dude.
at this point, Maya had called her mother to go pick her up i forgot why and they are taking the shortcut way home.
also at this point, one of the old dudes from the bar is driving home from the hospital AFTER he had told them that he didn't feel good enough to drive.
he sees Maya and her mom in the car, swerves to miss them and at this point the dudes from Hed are also whizzing by with the pack not far behind.
the Hed dudes crash and then the old man ends up killing Vidar.
BECAUSE ANNA WAS STANDING ON THE ROAD IN THE WAY AND OLD DUDE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HER HAD HE NOT PUSHED HER OUT THE WAY!!!!!
(side note: as the whole bar on fire shit was going down, Teemu texted Vidar and they were running that way. but then the crash happens and Anna heads that direction and it ultimately cost Vidar his life)
also, the old man passes away too.
(also, this scene was a bit blurry to me so i could be wrong. my understanding was that Anna and Vidar were running to the pub because Teemu had texted V but then the chase scene happened and so T was there to see V get killed.)
Anna and Maya make up and they go to Jeanette's self defense training thing and Anna becomes the best.
so, the stupid ass pack, these stupid ass fights between towns cost Vidar his life (its unfair to pin point it to that but well.....)
and after all the hate, the fights, the literal fire, Hed all of a sudden has respect (ish) for the town that they set on fire.
Peter and Kira are not talking to each other because he continues to take and not give but at the end of it all she decides to start her own business with her coworker friend and Peter quits his job at the rink and goes to Kira to ask for forgiveness in a way i guess by asking for a job as an HR manager or whatever.
and i mean there is a lot i left out but im leaving it at this.
nice summary
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