Us Against You (Beartown#2) by Fredrik Backman

Us Against You

 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.

 

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Book ID:

Title : Us Against You

Author : Fredrik Backman

Preceded by : Beartown

Genre : Fiction

Pages : 434

Original Language : Swedish

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME! It's been a long time, I want to type a review with all caps lock fonts, want to shout out to the world that there is an incredibly good book born in our century!

I started to read Fredrik Backman's book: A Man Called Ove, then every year I read any one of his books. I know he's a goddam great author, I love his books, but never really called him my favorite Author. But after this, I think he's one of my top 5 authors because this book is deeply personal, even I didn't ever experience any "drama" in his books.

Okay, before I start to write about why this book is good, I will provide a summary of what happened in the previous book and this book.

The first book is Beartown, if you want to see the detailed review, you can click the link. Beartown is about a community, hockey, and a dying city. Peter Andersson is the General Manager of Beartown Hockey Club. He used to be a successful player in NHL, born in Beartown, he climbed the ladder to the top, then he injured and retired. With his family, he moved back to Beartown.

His love for Hockey is undoubtedly huge. Without hockey, he won't be Peter Andersson. Same as citizens of Beartown, they love their club very much, may be beyond a lot of things.

Then Maya, Peter Andersson's child got raped by the star player, Kevin. It is a story about right or wrong, choice of his entire life vs his beloved girl. Luckily, Beartown voted for Maya. Kevin left the city. Beartown was left by their star player.

Then we thought, everything is back to normal after that. 

 

In book one, it is about how they fight to make right what is wrong. In book two is about how they survive after the catastrophic.

Maya's life drastically changes. Many people saw it as a victim but also a liar. Meanwhile without Kevin, all the sponsors left Beartown, other players and the coach move to another club, the rival and mortal enemy club, The Hed. 

Beartown hockey club is on the brink of bankruptcy, the citizen is unrest. Especially the Pack. 

After the tragedy, the family never be the same again. Peter and Kira, his wife, stop talking. Leo, the youngest is tortured by anger and guilt. Maya is sad because she saw her family changing because of her.

 

Meanwhile, there are also other players who didn't move to Hed but have their life heavily depend on Hockey. Amat from Hollow whose dream to get out from the slum thru hockey, Bobo whose parents love hockey more than anything, and my favorite, Benji- used to be Kevin's best friend. Who are they without hockey?

Peter does anything he can to save the club, even it is to sacrifice his family? Then the question is who he is without hockey? The same questions to most people in Beartown.

Us Against You is a story about a whole community who think they can save or destroy their hockey club- the heart of their town. Everyone has a specific reason why they need the club. 

When I read the book, it felt like I read an Orchestra. Every person, every tiny detail is as important to create a beautiful story about courage, sacrifice, love, and loyalty.

Every person, even the 'bad' one, has a reason to do a bad thing for the right reason. 

"It's so easy to get people to hate one another. That's what makes love so impossible to understand. Hate is so simple that it's always ought to win. It's an uneven fight."

In this book, it is also brilliantly injected with politics. The cunning and smart politicians, orchestrating everything to 'save' the club for his gain. And Benji, is once again my most favorite character, the tough guy with a soft heart have quite a portion in this book. There are also new characters, the new coach, the new teacher and finally, we can justify William Lyt's hatred.

I don't know how to put it, except this book is deeply personal. Nudging our moral compass, teach us about a mundane life and mistakes that we made as human. There are lots of emotions and above of all, every character is so unique that makes this book a whole.

It's been a long time, I have emotionally influenced as a book. Yes, it is still started slowly like Beartown, but I promise you it's all worth it. I don't know, May I put this book side by side with To Kill a Mockingbird? because I love both just as same!

"Some children never quite manage to escape their parents; they're guided by their compass, see through their eyes. When terrible things happen, most people become waves, but some people become rocks. Waves are tossed back and forth when the wind comes, but the rocks just take a beating, immovable, waiting for the storm to blow over."-p184.