Us Against You
Fredrik Backman
Narrated by John Sackville
13 hrs 47 mins
Penguin for Audible
Published June 14, 2018
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Us Against You is the second book in the Beartown trilogy, about a small town in Sweden where ice hockey is the only thing that matters. If you think that couldn’t possibly be interesting, think again – the characters are incredible and the story completely engrossing.
Don’t try and tackle this without reading Beartown first – it’s two years since I did, and unlike many plots, that one stayed with me enough that I could remember who was who, although the bits of recap certainly helped. This is another masterful exploration of obsession, loyalty, tribalism, honour and found family, and I loved it at least as much as the first book, if not more. To get around my self-imposed ban on buying new books (when I have so many already) I used an Audible credit, which was a good move, the narrator is excellent.
As winter approaches in Beartown, the inhabitants are in despair – their hockey team has collapsed, with the star players having moved to the neighbouring town Hed’s team. The shame of the events of the previous year haunts everyone, and the future looks bleak. Then General Manager Peter Andersson is given one chance to save his career and form a new team, based around the talented youngsters left behind, under a surprising new coach, but doesn’t understand how he’s being played by an ambitious local politician, or how much the game is hurting his family. As rivalry turns to malevolent hostility between the two towns, in a culture where violence spills over the edge of the rink into everyday life, players and their families will give their all for the game and town they love.
Perhaps it was the different format, but I did find this one took longer to get going than the first book. There’s some heavy foreshadowing of tragedy, and I wondered if it was going to be too depressing for summer listening, but as soon as the first twist came along, I was hooked. There is actually enough humour to balance the darkness, and amazing male characters (hello Amat, Sune, Benji, Bobo just for starters) to be able to bear the disgustingly toxic villains. Plenty of strong female characters too. The sense of dread builds about exactly which of the players will not make it, and it certainly is sad, but Backman gives us a heart lifting ending that felt just right. I’m not waiting another two years to read the next one!
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