Us Against You is the second book in a series after Beartown, and as it stands alone, the story is perfectly understandable. I didn’t read Beartown…yet, but Us Against You impressed me to such a degree that I decided to read everything this author has in print. Fredrick Backman is a storyteller, and not just any storyteller but one who pays attention to characterization, relationships, and humanity’s hidden assets that can bond people and groups.

The game of hockey has to do a lot with the story; however, one can’t say that this book is only about hockey, as hockey serves as an important prop. What is at the core of the novel are its characters and relationships with one another and also the two similar towns, Hed and Beartown, with their own hockey teams, Bears and Bulls. The story successfully points out the animosity and violence that winning or losing a game can trigger between two very similar entities.

The story opens up with the possible closure of the Beartown’s only factory and the danger of Beartown losing its hockey team due to loss of financial backup, and as the result, some of the old Beartown players agreeing to play for Hed. Those remaining Beartown players are the best ones, but the team now doesn’t have the punch Bulls now have. Will Beartown be able to come up with its own good hockey team and face its future on better terms, is in the plot of the story that surprises the readers with unexpected twists a. In addition to this are the exquisitely drawn characters: a family with Peter Andersson, the general manager, his wife Kira the lawyer, Maya his daughter who was raped by an old Beartown player, Leo their twelve-year-old son; Ana who is Maya’s friend and her father; Ramona, the sage bar owner; the new Bears coach Elizabeth; a scheming politician who uses Peter for his own ends; Bears players, Benji, Amat, Vidar, Bobo. etc.

After its characters, what makes this novel a great one is the variety of themes running through it such as friendship, self-destruction, talent v.s character, heartbreak, heroism, courage, community, loyalty that is often tested, love, and redemption.

Although this story turns around the game of hockey, it is much, much more than that. I started reading this book without realizing that it was happening in Sweden. It might as well happen in the USA or in any other country. This is probably because its messages are universal.

I am going to make sure I won’t miss reading any book by this author as long as it is translated into a language I can understand.

seeing what good literature can be like.

everything.

read everything this author has written so far

is Fredrik Backman (born 2 June 1981) is a Swedish columnist, blogger and writer. He is the author of A Man Called Ove (2012), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry (2013), Britt-Marie Was Here (2014) Beartown (2016), and Us Against You (2018).
(From Wikipedia)

It is good literature, and it has a wide scope.

Some people say that this book is all about hockey. I don't care or like hockey, but this story only uses hockey to weave other human stories around it. What happens, therefore, is universal.

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Created Aug 20, 2018 at 3:54pm • Submit your own review...