
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Buy new:
$39.02$39.02
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: NSA LLC
Save with Used - Good
$9.90$9.90
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Zoom Books Company

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
-
-
-
2 VIDEOS
-
Follow the author
OK
Us Against You: A Novel (Beartown) Hardcover – June 5, 2018
Purchase options and add-ons
“Fans of Backman will not be disappointed. His work continues to amaze and captivate, enlighten and thrill.” —Shelf Awareness
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.
- Print length448 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAtria Books
- Publication dateJune 5, 2018
- Dimensions6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101501160796
- ISBN-13978-1501160790
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed
- The complicated thing about good and bad people alike is that most of us can be both at the same time.Highlighted by 2,932 Kindle readers
- What does it take to be a good parent? Not much. Just everything. Absolutely everything.Highlighted by 2,443 Kindle readers
- Sometimes people have to be allowed to have something to live for in order to survive everything else.Highlighted by 2,411 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
Review
“What you get in a Fredrik Backman work is wonderful writing and brilliant insights into things that truly matter—right vs. wrong, fear vs. courage, love vs. hate, the importance and limits of friendship and loyalty, and more. Fredrik Backman is one of the world’s best and most interesting novelists. He is a giant among the world’s great novelists—and this literary giant is still growing.” ― Washington Times
"[Backman] creates an astute emotional world much bigger than a small Swedish town...A novel you can sink into." ― Chicago Tribune
"Deftly explores recovery and rebirth." ― US Weekly
“If Alexander McCall Smith’s and Maeve Binchy’s novels had a love child, the result would be the work of Swedish writer Fredrik Backman...With his wry acceptance of foible and failure, Backman combines a singular style with a large and compassionate perspective for his characters...[His] novels have wide appeal, and for good reason. Us Against You takes a lyrical look at how a community heals, how families recover and how individuals grow.” ― The Washington Post
“Backman (A Man Called Ove) returns to the hockey-obsessed village of his previous novel Beartown to chronicle the passion, violence, resilience, and humanity of the people who live there in this engrossing tale of small-town Swedish life... Backman’s excellent novel has an atmosphere of both Scandinavian folktale and Greek tragedy. Darkness and grit exist alongside tenderness and levity, creating a blunt realism that brings the setting’s small-town atmosphere to vivid life.” ― Publishers Weekly
“Evident in all [Backman] novels is an apparent ability to state a truth about humanity with breathtaking elegance.” ― Kirkus
"A light hearted, deeply moving novel about a grumpy but loveable curmudgeon who finds his solitary world." ― CBS Local
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
It’s Going to Be Someone’s Fault
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did. We’ll end up saying that violence came to Beartown this summer, but that will be a lie; the violence was already here. Because sometimes hating one another is so easy that it seems incomprehensible that we ever do anything else.
We’re a small community in the forest; people say that no roads lead here, just past. The economy coughs every time it takes a deep breath; the factory cuts its workforce each year like a child that thinks no one will notice the cake in the fridge getting smaller if you take a little bit from each side. If you lay a current map of the town over an old one, the main shopping street and the little strip known as “the center” seem to shrink like bacon in a hot pan. We have an ice rink but not much else. But on the other hand, as people usually say here: What the hell else do you need?
People driving through say that Beartown doesn’t live for anything but hockey, and some days they may be right. Sometimes people have to be allowed to have something to live for in order to survive everything else. We’re not mad, we’re not greedy; say what you like about Beartown, but the people here are tough and hardworking. So we built a hockey team that was like us, that we could be proud of, because we weren’t like you. When people from the big cities thought something seemed too hard, we just grinned and said, “It’s supposed to be hard.” Growing up here wasn’t easy; that’s why we did it, not you. We stood tall, no matter the weather. But then something happened, and we fell.
There’s a story about us before this one, and we’re always going to carry the guilt of that. Sometimes good people do terrible things in the belief that they’re trying to protect what they love. A boy, the star of the hockey team, raped a girl. And we lost our way. A community is the sum of its choices, and when two of our children said different things, we believed him. Because that was easier, because if the girl was lying our lives could carry on as usual. When we found out the truth, we fell apart, taking the town with us. It’s easy to say that we should have done everything differently, but perhaps you wouldn’t have acted differently, either. If you’d been afraid, if you’d been forced to pick a side, if you’d known what you had to sacrifice. Perhaps you wouldn’t be as brave as you think. Perhaps you’re not as different from us as you hope.
This is the story of what happened afterward, from one summer to the following winter. It is about Beartown and the neighboring town of Hed, and how the rivalry between two hockey teams can grow into a mad struggle for money and power and survival. It is a story about hockey rinks and all the hearts that beat around them, about people and sports and how they sometimes take turns carrying each other. About us, people who dream and fight. Some of us will fall in love, others will be crushed; we’ll have good days and some very bad days. This town will rejoice, but it will also start to burn. There’s going to be a terrible bang.
Some girls will make us proud; some boys will make us great. Young men dressed in different colors will fight to the death in a dark forest. A car will drive too fast through the night. We will say that it was a traffic accident, but accidents happen by chance, and we will know that we could have prevented this one. This one will be someone’s fault.
People we love will die. We will bury our children beneath our most beautiful trees.
Us Against You
2
There Are Three Types of People
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
The highest point in Beartown is a hill to the south of the last buildings in town. From there you can see all the way from the big villas on the Heights, past the factory and the ice rink and the smaller row houses near the center, right over to the blocks of rental apartments in the Hollow. Two girls are standing on the hill looking out across their town. Maya and Ana. They’ll soon be sixteen, and it’s hard to say if they became friends in spite of their differences or because of them. One of them likes musical instruments; the other likes guns. Their mutual loathing of each other’s taste in music is almost as recurrent a topic of argument as their ten-year-long fight about pets. Last winter they got thrown out of a history class at school because Maya muttered, “You know who was a dog person, Ana? Hitler!” whereupon Ana retorted, “You know who was a cat person, then? Josef Mengele!”
They squabble constantly and love each other unquestioningly, and ever since they were little they have had days when they’ve felt it was just the two of them against the whole world. Ever since what happened to Maya earlier in the spring, every day has felt like that.
It’s the very start of June. For three-quarters of the year this place is encapsulated in winter, but now, for a few enchanted weeks, it’s summer. The forest around them is getting drunk on sunlight, the trees sway happily beside the lakes, but the girls’ eyes are restless. This time of year used to be a time of endless adventure for them; they would spend all day out in nature and come home late in the evening with torn clothes and dirty faces, childhood in their eyes. That’s all gone. They’re adults now. For some girls that isn’t something you choose, it’s something that gets forced upon you.
Bang. Bang. Bang-bang-bang.
A mother is standing outside a house. She’s packing her child’s things into a car. How many times does that happen while they’re growing up? How many toys do you pick up from the floor, how many stuffed animals do you have to form search parties for at bedtime, how many mittens do you give up on at preschool? How many times do you think that if nature really does want people to reproduce, then perhaps evolution should have let all parents grow extra sets of arms so they can reach under all the wretched sofas and fridges? How many hours do we spend waiting in hallways for our kids? How many gray hairs do they give us? How many lifetimes do we devote to their single one? What does it take to be a good parent? Not much. Just everything. Absolutely everything.
Bang. Bang.
Up on the hill Ana turns to her best friend and asks, “Do you remember when we were little? When you always wanted to pretend that we had kids?”
Maya nods without taking her eyes from the town.
“Do you still want kids?” Ana asks.
Maya’s mouth barely opens when she replies. “Don’t know. Do you?”
Ana shrugs her shoulders slightly, halfway between anger and sorrow. “Maybe when I’m old.”
“How old?”
“Dunno. Thirty, maybe.”
Maya is silent for a long time, then asks, “Do you want boys or girls?”
Ana replies as if she’s spent her whole life thinking about this, “Boys.”
“Why?”
“Because the world is kind of shitty toward them sometimes. But it treats us like that nearly all the time.”
Bang.
The mother closes the trunk, holding back tears because she knows that if she lets out so much as a single one, they will never stop. No matter how old they get, we never want to cry in front of our children. We’d do anything for them; they never know because they don’t understand the immensity of something that is unconditional. A parent’s love is unbearable, reckless, irresponsible. They’re so small when they sleep in their beds and we sit beside them, shattered to pieces inside. It’s a lifetime of shortcomings, and, feeling guilty, we stick happy pictures up everywhere, but we never show the gaps in the photograph album, where everything that hurts is hidden away. The silent tears in darkened rooms. We lie awake, terrified of all the things that can happen to them, everything they might be subjected to, all the situations in which they could end up victims.
The mother goes around the car and opens the door. She’s not much different from any other mother. She loves, she gets frightened, falls apart, is filled with shame, isn’t enough. She sat awake beside her son’s bed when he was three years old, watching him sleep and fearing all the terrible things that could happen to him, just like every parent does. It never occurred to her that she might need to fear the exact opposite.
Bang.
It’s dawn, the town is asleep; the main road out of Beartown is empty, but the girls’ eyes are still fixed on it from up on the hilltop. They wait patiently.
Maya no longer dreams about the rape. About Kevin’s hand over her mouth, the weight of his body stifling her screams, his room with all the hockey trophies on the shelves, the floor the button of her blouse bounced across. She just dreams about the running track behind the Heights now; she can see it from up here. When Kevin was running on his own and she stepped out of the darkness with a shotgun. Held it to his head as he shook and sobbed and begged for mercy. In her dreams she kills him, every night.
Bang. Bang.
How many times does a mother make her child giggle? How many times does the child make her laugh out loud? Kids turn us inside out the first time we realize that they’re doing it intentionally, when we discover that they have a sense of humor. When they make jokes, learn to manipulate our feelings. If they love us, they learn to lie shortly after that, to spare our feelings, pretending to be happy. They’re quick to learn what we like. We might tell ourselves that we know them, but they have their own photograph albums, and they grow up in the gaps.
How many times has the mother stood beside the car outside the house, checked the time, and impatiently called her son’s name? She doesn’t have to do that today. He’s been sitting silently in the passenger seat for several hours while she packed his things. His once well- toned body is thin after weeks in which she’s struggled to get food into him. His eyes stare blankly through the windshield.
How much can a mother forgive her son for? How can she possibly know that in advance? No parent imagines that her little boy is going to grow up and commit a crime. She doesn’t know what nightmares he dreams now, but he shouts when he wakes up from them. Ever since that morning she found him on the running track, motionless with cold, stiff with fear. He had wet himself, and his desperate tears had frozen on his cheeks.
He raped a girl, and no one could ever prove it. There will always be people who say that means he got away with it, that his family escaped punishment. They’re right, of course. But it will never feel like that for his mother.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
When the car begins to move along the road, Maya stands on the hill and knows that Kevin will never come back here. That she has broken him. There will always be people who say that means she won.
But it will never feel like that to her.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
The brake lights go on for a moment; the mother casts one last glance in the rearview mirror, at the house that was a home and the gluey scraps on the mailbox where the name “Erdahl” has been torn off, letter by letter. Kevin’s father is packing the other car alone. He stood beside the mother on the track, saw their son lying there with tears on his sweater and urine on his trousers. Their lives had shattered long before then, but that was when she first saw the shards. The father refused to help her as she half carried, half dragged the boy through the snow. That was two months ago. Kevin hasn’t left the house since then, and his parents have barely said a word to each other. Men define themselves in more distinctive ways than women, life has taught her that, and her husband and son have always defined themselves with one single word: winners. As long as she can remember, the father has drummed the same message into the boy: “There are three types of people: winners, losers, and the ones who watch.”
And now? If they’re not winners, what are they? The mother takes her foot off the brake, switches the radio off, drives down the road, and turns the corner. Her son sits beside her. The father gets into the other car, drives alone in the opposite direction. The divorce papers are in the mail, along with the letter to the school saying that the father has moved to another town and the mother and son have gone abroad. The mother’s phone number is at the bottom in case anyone at the school has any questions, but no one’s going to call. This town is going to do everything it can to forget that the Erdahl family was ever a part of it.
After four hours of silence in the car, when they’re so far from Beartown that they can’t see any forest, Kevin whispers to his mother, “Do you think it’s possible to become a different person?”
She shakes her head, biting her bottom lip, and blinks so hard she can’t see the road in front of her. “No. But it’s possible to become a better person.” Then he holds out a trembling hand. She holds it as if he were three years old, as if he were dangling over the edge of a cliff. She whispers, “I can’t forgive you, Kevin. But I’ll never abandon you.”
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
That’s the sound of this town, everywhere. Perhaps you understand that only if you live here.
Bangbangbang.
On the hilltop stand two girls, watching the car disappear. They’ll soon be sixteen. One of them is holding a guitar, the other a rifle.
Product details
- Publisher : Atria Books
- Publication date : June 5, 2018
- Edition : First Edition
- Language : English
- Print length : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1501160796
- ISBN-13 : 978-1501160790
- Item Weight : 1.34 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
- Book 2 of 3 : Beartown
- Best Sellers Rank: #200,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #20 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)
- #97 in Humorous Fiction
- #210 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, The Winners, Anxious People and two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime, as well as one work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About the World. His books are published in more than forty countries. His next novel, My Friends, will be published in May 2025. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter @BackmanLand or on Instagram @Backmansk.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers praise the novel's intricate tapestry of stories and its ability to create devastatingly beautiful narratives. Moreover, the writing is highly acclaimed, with one customer noting how the author skillfully interweaves multiple stories. Additionally, the characters are well-developed, and the book serves as a strong sequel to Beartown, adding life lessons and exploring complex issues. However, the pacing receives mixed reactions, with some finding it repetitive, while opinions on humor are divided between those who find it entertaining and those who consider it unsatisfactory.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers praise the book's story quality, describing it as a riveting and uplifting narrative that creates devastatingly beautiful moments.
"...This isn't just a story about hockey, it's a story about people, small towns and the people that are in your lives...." Read more
"...of us in Beartown and this story about a hockey town is a unique look at human nature...." Read more
"...The story and characters drew me in completely and the masterfully crafted narrative had me falling hard for Backman's writing style so I was eager..." Read more
"...A gut wrenching, but also insightful and, ultimately, uplifting narrative" Read more
Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one noting how the author skillfully interweaves multiple stories, while another highlights the author's ability to convey emotions and feelings with precision.
"...Fredrik, you are an Awesome writer. These books give you all the feels! Thank-you. On to the next one, can't wait!" Read more
"...But most of all, I enjoy the way Mr. Backman writes as if he is writing a long ballad...." Read more
"...The Good: The author and translator are absolutely incredible. I love the writing and overall tone in all of his novels and this one was the same...." Read more
"...I know I say this every time, but his writing is just so wonderful...." Read more
Customers find the book emotionally engaging, with one customer noting how it depicts the passion of the characters, while others appreciate its insightful and sometimes heartbreaking portrayal of their joys and sorrows.
"Great book which is unusual for a second book in a series. Explores love & relationships of all types, and the hate that can pop up when healthy..." Read more
"...This story will bring out all the feelings and keep you wanting more!" Read more
"...my Phone (Kindle app) Because the Mystery/tension/ plus its got a plethora of emotions that seem to build up with each page. Definitely a must read." Read more
"...Fabulous character development. A gut wrenching, but also insightful and, ultimately, uplifting narrative" Read more
Customers praise the character development in the book, noting how well-developed and nuanced the personalities and communities are, with one customer highlighting the author's talent for describing people.
"I love the story, the characters and the town. These characters are so well developed you think you will meet them when you go to Bear town or..." Read more
"...The story and characters drew me in completely and the masterfully crafted narrative had me falling hard for Backman's writing style so I was eager..." Read more
"...Fabulous character development. A gut wrenching, but also insightful and, ultimately, uplifting narrative" Read more
"Loved how the story was told. Very heartfelt and really made the characters feel real. Looking forward to reading the next book." Read more
Customers praise this sequel as a strong continuation of the Beartown series, with one customer noting it's the second book in a trilogy.
"Great book which is unusual for a second book in a series...." Read more
"...bad things happen, this story has an overall positive and empowering theme of surviving...." Read more
"Although there is a strong message, it’s a slow burn...." Read more
"...The under-toning theme is in the power of community and resilience and hard work; all of which are positive reflection of society...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's insightful approach to important topics, finding it full of hope and potential, with one customer noting its bold exploration of complex issues.
"...Backman builds characters that are so incredibly human, so full of hope and potential, that I’m always a little taken aback by the classifier...." Read more
"...His works are good for the soul, basking in the afternoon sun, with a glass of cold wine. Cheers!" Read more
"...Fredrik Backman is a talented storyteller, who again boldly explored complex issues and the fundamental aspects of the human condition, with enough..." Read more
"...When you strip away all the nonsense surrounding it, the game is simple: everyone gets a stick; there are two teams, two nets...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it repetitive.
"...This story will bring out all the feelings and keep you wanting more!" Read more
"...summarization led to a loss of momentum and made it difficult for me to stay engaged in the story...." Read more
"...👫 character driven novel 😭 emotional story 🌪️ consuming, atmospheric writing 🧠 mental health representation ⌛️ coming of age..." Read more
"...Its about politics. It’s also a love story. It is also about family and brotherhood...." Read more
Customers have mixed reactions to the humor in the book, with some finding it funny while others say it's not very good.
"...with well-developed characters that will have you rooting, crying, laughing, and smiling with them...." Read more
"...This book was not very good. I was disappointed because Backman is one of my favorite authors...." Read more
"...those words carry that touch your heart and bring unexpected laughter as equally as unexpected tears...." Read more
"...It again had me laughing out loud, crying, and having all of the feels of the characters in the book." Read more
Reviews with images

Great sequel
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2025I love the story, the characters and the town. These characters are so well developed you think you will meet them when you go to Bear town or Anywhere, USA. This isn't just a story about hockey, it's a story about people, small towns and the people that are in your lives.
This series has become like family to me. Bravo and thank you.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2025I have to admit, this one took all I had to keep reading. It was super slow for the first half of the book, but like the first one, I ended up not being able to put it down for the last half. Like it or not, you do start to care for the characters and even a stupid hockey game by the end.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2025Great book which is unusual for a second book in a series. Explores love & relationships of all types, and the hate that can pop up when healthy competition turns into something violent. Can't wait to start the third book..
- Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2025Damn Backman really knows how to write a story! There’s a little bit of all of us in Beartown and this story about a hockey town is a unique look at human nature. This story will bring out all the feelings and keep you wanting more!
- Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2025Wow this Sequel is even better than book 1! I couldn't put down my Phone (Kindle app) Because the Mystery/tension/ plus its got a plethora of emotions that seem to build up with each page. Definitely a must read.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2025Love the "Beartown" series. Fredrick Backman's writing and characters bring you into their small town hockey world. This sequel was not as good as the first, but I loved spending more time in Beartown.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2025Great book
- Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2025I recently finished "Beartown" by Fredrik Backman and it’s clear why it’s a favorite for so many. The story and characters drew me in completely and the masterfully crafted narrative had me falling hard for Backman's writing style so I was eager to dive into the sequel, "Us Against You," to see how he would further expand these complex characters.
However, as I began reading, I found myself getting bored early on by the lengthy recaps of events from "Beartown." While I recognize the necessity of revisiting key points for continuity, this extensive summarization led to a loss of momentum and made it difficult for me to stay engaged in the story.
I also noticed strong foreshadowing that was heavily woven into the narrative which built anticipation for significant revelations that, unfortunately, never seemed to materialize. I expected to witness some character growth, but it felt like we were treading the same ground as before, revisiting familiar struggles without much progress which raises a crucial question for me.
Was it truly necessary to expand this story by another 430 pages? A tighter narrative might have kept things fresh and engaging while allowing for an even deeper connection to the characters I fell in love with in the first book. It feels a bit like a missed chance to rekindle that spark, and I left this journey with a sense of wanting more!
Top reviews from other countries
- CrazygoangirlReviewed in India on September 14, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of Backman!
Backman just gets better with every book! This latest, Us Against You is a sequel to Beartown and carries forward where that one left off.
What I’ve grown to love most about Backman is his choice of contemporary themes. In every book he writes about the society we live in and the duality of human nature - how good people can be good in many ways and yet carry prejudice in others, and how the ‘not-so-goods’ can on occasion rise above theirs. The imperfection that characterises us as humans comes through brilliantly in his characters, without judgment or justification. He tells it like it is in our times and nowhere more than in this book, where he writes about violence, rape, friendship, loyalty, love, forgiveness, hubris and compromise among other things.
As usual he uses sport as a metaphor, ice-hockey in this case. Backman is the only author who can make an utterly non-sporting gal like me read a book that is on the surface all about sport! Only on the surface though. He makes the sport and the town that depends on that sport for its very existence come alive. I can very easily imagine a town like Beartown and everything that happens there is utterly believable - the good, the bad and the ugly.
In this book I particularly liked the way Backman weaves politics and politicians into the narrative. I enjoy his style as always - he builds up a scenario that initially seems random, only to make a specific point after a few pages! The narrative is as always layered and fast-paced making for a very compelling and satisfying read. I read this book in a day, like I read all his books. There’s an undercurrent of foreboding in this book right from the start that hooked me in and kept me turning the pages! I could feel that something terrible was around the corner but couldn’t quite put my finger on whom or when. When the events did take place, Backman had me so invested in these characters that it was gut-wrenching. That’s what I call great writing!
This book is in many ways a mirror of the times we live in and the reflections are very often disturbing. But hope springs eternal and that’s why us humans labour on, doing what we can to make sense of this chaos that we call Life! Us Against You is ultimately about us and our indomitable human spirit and it is about the price we’re prepared to pay to survive as individuals and as a community.
An excellent read 😊
-
Maria de Fatima Louza PereiraReviewed in Brazil on January 19, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Mais um Backman
Eu descobri este autor em Um Homem chamado Ove e, de lá para cá, não consegui deixar de ler nada que ele escreve. A maioria das vezes, como na série sobre Beartown, não tenho paciência de esperar pela tradução para o português (que demora muito, por sinal). Em Us Against You, que é a continuação de Beartown,, o autor volta a abordar temas sérios, mas ele o faz com tanta leveza e sensibilidade que a leitura se torna muito prazerosa.
Enfim, é mais um livro do Backman que leio e, até hoje, não li nenhum que fosse menos que excelente!
- BushraReviewed in the United Arab Emirates on June 27, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Total sob fest
Get ready to cry ugly. This isn't an easy breezy book to read.
- Alison SReviewed in Australia on August 18, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Don’t be put off by the hockey focus
This is a great sequel to Beartown but can be read as a stand alone novel. These stories are about so much more than sport and readers shouldn’t be put off by the setting of hockey, it simply provides a backdrop for the character and plot development. There are so many incredible characters to enjoy in these books and Backman explores the darkness and light that can be found in all of us to great effect.
-
Ana CarreteroReviewed in Mexico on February 5, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Gran recomendación
Una novela increíble!! Y más para los seguidores de Hockey