Audiobook Review: Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: June 5, 2018
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they learn that their beloved local hockey team will 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 Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach.
Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the crazed lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. Bringing this team together is a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.
As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up, and hatred grows deeper. When the last game is finally played, one of Beartown’s key players will be dead, and residents of both towns are forced to wonder whether, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.
Us Against You is the second novel in Fredrik Backman’s Beartown trilogy. You definitely need to read Beartown first and this review will have spoilers for Beartown.
Us Against You picks up just a few months after Kevin assaulted Maya. He and his family moved away, leaving Beartown divided and in shambles. Most of Beartown’s hockey players left Beartown’s team to play for the rival team in Hed. People in Beartown are taking sides and the violence has only gotten worse.
Us Against You was okay but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I liked Beartown. Beartown was a pretty somber book but Us Against You is next level. Almost no one has any joy about anything. And the heavy-handed, melodramatic foreshadowing made the pacing way too slow. There was too much repeating and summarizing in an effort to build suspense so the suspense felt forced. I listened to the book and I think that added to the dramatic atmosphere, which in this case was not necessarily a good thing.
I do still care about (most of) the people of Beartown so I will read the third and final book, Winners, which just came out a few weeks ago. I hope at least some of the people will have a happy ending when all is said and done!
