Summary

In Chapter 1, “It’s Going to Be Someone’s Fault,” the author opens the novel with the question: “Have you ever seen a town fall?” The narrator then reveals that Beartown has fallen from one particular act of violence, as well the violence it has always possessed. Beartown is a small community isolated in the forest While Beartown does not possess many amenities, the one thing it does have is an ice rink. Everyone knows that hockey is the town’s source of life, the one constant allowing the community to “survive everything else” (1). For a while the rink is a source of pride, a consolation for the difficulties of growing up in Beartown, until the star of the town’s team rapes a girl. The boy and girl involved each tell a different story, forcing the townspeople to take sides. Many people...