Hey all! Last Monday, I did a book review on Beartown, written by the Swedish author, Fredrik Backman. Us Against You is the sequel of Beartown, also written by the same author. I have just finish ed reading the book and can’t wait to share my thoughts about it!
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that their town’s ice hockey club might 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 the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. But the arrival of a newcomer gives Beartown hockey a chance at a comeback.
Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a huge challenge, especially as the town’s enmity with Hed grows more and more acute as the big game approaches.
By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you.
Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.
- Series: Beartown (Book 2)
- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Atria Books (June 5, 2018)
- Language: English
- Genre – Sports Ficiton
This is the sequel to the book, Beartown, written by the same author, Fredrik Backman (so for those of you who haven’t read Beartown, read Beartown before reading Us Against You). The story follows the aftermath of Maya’s rape and Kevin Erdhal leaving the Beartown. The story follows the tension between the two rival towns, Beartown and Hed and would also involve politics, relationship struggles and…death of loved ones.
So as usual, let me start out with the ones I like about the book.
- Each chapter of the book starts with some sort of a comment about the life in general with bits and pieces of advice about life.
- The book explores the struggles of relationships and marriage and the author does a good job outlining those such struggles.
- The book is realistic when it talks about how politics seem to pave its way and play a role in the sports, and in this case how politics play a role in hockey. Corruption of politicians also have been outlined.
- the author manages to outline how the sport, in this case hockey affects the whole community in general,. whether you are form Beartown or Hed.
- I also like the way how the whole community would get together as a team in the moment of an event, in this case, particularly when the Bearskin the pub was on fire.
- The book was emotional and sad towards the end as author cleverly says how certain lives were destroyed and certain people’s lives will be affected just because of a hockey game.
- the book was cleverly written and the author does a good job making the reader hooked into the story.
I am not really a fan of sports fiction but this book was actually enjoyable to read as well as emotional at certain times. Overall, I rate this book as five stars!
Tropical Girl Reads 