I absolutely loved The Scandal (published as Beartown in the US) so I was unbelievably excited to learn their was going to be a sequel and even more excited to be approved to read the sequel early. Although it has been months since I read The Scandal, I fell straight back into the lives of the people of Beartown and the world they live in. Because I really felt like I already knew these characters so well it felt so easy and comfortable to jump back into their story and I was dying to know how things had developed and what state the characters were in.
The plot pretty much covers the ramifications and complications caused by the events of the first book which I found fascinating. As readers, we often don’t get to see how the characters deal with the events of a book because the story usually ends quite soon after something hugely eventful happens. It was interesting to see how some of the characters in this book have moved on and how some of them have become stuck in a cycle of despair and darkness. These characters have to cope with new challenges and problems as well and, as with all his work, Backman just knows exactly how to punch a reader in the gut with heartbreaking or heartwarming moments so full of emotion and depth. The story of Us Against You has so many facets and I don’t want to give anything away about the plot but I was genuinely holding my breath at times because I was completely immersed in this world and I cared so much about the future’s of these characters. This book really shows the darkness and hate in the world that can feel so overwhelming and honestly depressing, but it also shows that these people filled with hate are not the majority, there are far more people who have goodness within them. The importance of friendship, loyalty and forgiveness cannot be understated and are so apparent in Us Against You.
What I find so special about both Us Against You and it’s predecessor is that they are both one hundred percent focussed on Ice Hockey, which I have zero interest in, and yet I was obsessed with it whilst reading these books because the sport was the vessel for Backman to explore the way people feel and think and how they grow. I think a lot of this book is about choices. It reminded me of something Dumbledore says in the Harry Potter series about choosing between what is right and what is easy when darkness lies ahead. That sentiment felt so true to me whilst reading Us Against You, it really made clear that no one is wholly good or bad and that everybody is flawed and yet that is what makes people human and also capable of growth. Parts of this book just destroyed me to be honest, but Backman always manages to still leave the reader with hope after reading his novels.
I really have nothing bad to say about Us Against You, it gave closure on these characters and this town and I loved every second of reading it. If you loved The Scandal then I think this follow up will definitely not disappoint, it develops the fascinating relationships from the first book further and also brings in new characters with interesting histories who affect the people of Beartown in many different ways. Us Against You is an emotional and satisfying journey and if Backman chooses to write any more about Beartown then I will absolutely be reading it!

Thanks to Net galley and Michael Joseph for a free electronic preview copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

Having not read Beartown, the prequel to this book, I didn't know any of the characters. However, this isn't the reason I didn't enjoy it, more, the constant hockey references and slow, rambling storyline.

I guess it stands alone as it's well written and has some interesting characters, but, overall, just not for me.

The problem wasn't that a girl was raped but that it happened to become public knowledge.

Says Fredrick Backman, in Us Against You. How true is that in our much-more-than-fiction real world.

Us Against You almost picks up from where the previous book left. It's beautifully written, bold and bare. I loved each word and sentence in this book. Many, many highlighted paragraphs in my kindle but I cannot share each one of them!

Backman is a master writing ordinary characters going through extraordinary situations. I love his style and the position he views the world and interprets it.

Everyone is a hundred different things, but in other people’s eyes we usually get the chance to be only one of them.
How well said is that!

Us Against You is the perfect sequel to Beartown, one of the best books of last year. Highly recommended.

I would never have guessed that I would ever have had such a vested interest in hockey. This is the second book about hockey that I haven't been able to put down. But I think what Fredrik Backman so amazingly puts across is that it's about so much more than hockey, it's about people, it's about a town that's falling apart and how all the small choices that we make build up to something so much more.

Even writing this I have goosebumps remembering how great it was and how much it touched my heart. Fredik Backman comes up with the most poignant and beautiful sentences that you read and you think 'this is me, this is my life'.

For anyone who likes characters, love stories, tradgies, comedies, over come adversaries, coming of age stories, so just perfectly written prose, you need to read this book.

Thank you Beartown for making me fall in love with you all over again.

Last year I read a book about hockey. I made the point that I don’t like hockey but I did love the book called at that time The Scandal but now better known as Beartown. I will leave you booklovers to imagine my excitement when I heard there was to be a follow-up book and even greater pleasure when I was able to turn the pages of Us Against You.

We are back in Beartown primarily to see how a town that lives for its hockey is getting on after the shocking events in the first book. Do not read this book if you haven’t read the first one because you will be missing out on a very special experience indeed.

"The greater the mistake and the worse the consequences, the more pride we stand to lose if we back down. So no one does."

I’ll be honest, there isn’t one big event in Us Against You and because of that it confirmed to me that Fredrik Backman’s strength is in his characters. Beartown might be small but it is full of characters of all descriptions and yet this author has loving created many of them so well that you will be drawn to those that maybe in real life you simply wouldn’t take the time to get to know. Of course the delight for me was meeting up with some old favourites.

Top of the list is Peter Anderssen the General Manager of Beartown Hockey team who has held onto his position until now but there are moves afoot to only have one hockey team in the region and that honour looks like being conferred on Hed – so it is the Bulls against he Bears. In the way that life often goes, the instant drawing up of direct competition means that hatred spreads in its wake as passions are roused to even higher levels.

"The worst thing we know about other people is that we’re dependent upon them. That their actions affect our lives. Not just the people we like, but all the rest of them: the idiots."

We therefore have Peter’s wife Kira still struggling for her time to shine in her career, his daughter Maya and his son Leo. We see the old hockey coach and the boys who played hockey who mainly switched teams to Hed. Interesting to see how that plays out over a summer when hockey isn’t played, it’s planned. Switch scenes to the five uncles sat in the Bearskin pub where Ramona is still a steady presence in a changing world.

"At some point almost everyone makes a choice. Some of us don't even notice it happening, most don't get to plan it in advance, but there's always a moment when we take one path instead of another, which has consequences for the rest of our lives. It determines the people we will become, in other people's eyes as well as our own.”

Enter the snakelike politician Richard Theo who decides to use hockey although he seems to like the sport just as much as I do to win. Winning is more important to Richard than anything else it seems and his snaky dealings could make him a pantomime villain but again, the author has given him just enough depth that I was able to resist hissing every time he appeared.

"Lies are simple; truth is difficult."

I loved this book, perhaps not quite as much as The Scandal but a great deal. I think these books are among the most quotable of modern books, there are truisms that are expertly woven into a story that will have you experiencing tragedy one moment and wondering at the strength of character of another the next. Everyone in Beartown has a story to tell and Fredrick Backman tells it to us with the love of his creation illuminating the world even when its facing destruction.

I'd like to thank the publishers Penguin UK for allowing me to read a copy of Us Against You ahead of publication on 14 June 2018. A beautiful read of ordinary lives which had me cycling through the entire range of emotions. This unbiased review is my thanks to them.
First Published UK: 14 June 2018
Publisher: Penguin UK
No of Pages: 448
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Amazon UK
Amazon US

I have loved every one of Fredrik Backman’s books and ‘Us against you’ is yet another perfectly written, heart wrenching story. Backman writes so beautifully you not only fall in love with the characters, you fall deeply for the town, the story and the everything in between.

Beartown is a small town that has already dealt with hardship, Now Their beloved hockey team is in jeopardy. Can the community stand together and stay strong enough to survive.

I urge anyone who hasn’t yet read any of Backman’s brilliant books, to go and grab a copy, you won’t regret it.

This story is anothet Fredrik Backman story that is heartbreaking but also uplifting & life affirming. I loved the characters who were all so human; a little bit damaged but trying so hard.

If I could give this novel more than 5 stars then I would. It made me laugh and cry in about equal measures. It is an utterly brilliant follow-up to the equally stunning Beartown. You do not have to had read Beartown to appreciate this book but if you do it will add even more weight to the story. Nor do you have to be a fan of ice hockey. You could, in your imagination, replace it with any team sport which is close to your heart. In my case that was football and the tribal passions evoked in Us Against You resonate just as clearly.

Beartown residents see themselves as forgotten in comparison to big cities. They are reliant on a few employers and are constantly in fear of job losses and industry closure. The one passion they share is the fanatical support of their ice hockey team and a rabid hatred of their closest rivals in the neighbouring town of Hed.

The Beartown ice rink and therefore hockey team are in danger of closure and a number of its better players have already defected to join the team at Hed. This is the story of one summer, autumn and winter entirely informed by the threats of the loss of the hockey team, jobs and the town's identity.
The narrative is multi-layered and told through the eyes of a detached observer. It is a story of love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, hope and fear and accountability for our actions. It is a story of how politics can manipulate individuals and force them to act in ways they never thought they would. It also a cool commentary of human behaviour. ‘Why does anyone love team sports? Because we want to be part of a group? For some people the answer is simply that a team is family. For anyone who needs an extra one or never had one in the first place.’.... ‘Those are my brothers and sisters. They stand tall if I stand tall.’

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. It will mean many different things to its readers and you really do not have to love sport to enjoy it. Do yourself an enormous favour and buy this book (and Beartown too!).

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I can’t thank you enough.

If you loved [book:Beartown|33413128] you'll probably like this: if you baulked at the sentimentality and slightly preachy air, then this one won't change your mind.

It's about six months since Those Events in the first book: most of the hockey team have absconded to Hed, only some of our favourites (Amat, Benji) are left to pull the Beartown team -and town - back together.

This definitely has that sequel-y feel where what made the first book work now feels a bit overdone, done-before, even slightly trying-too-hard. The first book followed its natural narrative arc and the flash-forward that we got at the end finished that book off satisfactorily. So re-opening it now feels self-indulgent, redundant, even pushes the story as we knew it out of shape.

Backman still has that ability to touch us and move us (even while he can tip too far into sentimentality at times). For me, this is a book to read when in a maudlin, emotional mood: it'll make you want to shed some tears and hug all your loved ones. I just emerged feeling more than a little emotionally manipulated...

After ‘Beartown’ comes ‘Us Against You’, a sequel set a few months after the first book ends. Do you need to have read the first book to get into this? I would advise it, simply because of the emotional investment you will have in the characters. Is this a worthy follow-up? Indeed it is. A hundred times yes.

Backman writes with such sympathy, such tenderness, for this small town and its people. The characters are flawed, not always likeable, often frustrating. But you care about them, they get under your skin and you care. And, yes, ice hockey is important to the town, to the people, and to the book itself. But you don’t need to enjoy or know anything about the sport to like the book – it might help, but the book is about people: it is about families and friends and loyalty; it is about the small things in life that help us get through the worst of days, tiny intangible moments of peace and happiness that can enter into our lives; it is about politics and how things get done in the real world, even if it’s messy and underhand and unprincipled, and how we stand up for what we believe in.

Things happen – often bad things – to a town that is on the verge of falling apart. How can you describe the book? The narrator sums it up best: ‘We will say it was a story about violence. About hate. About conflict and difference and communities that tore themselves apart. But that won’t be true, at least not entirely. It’s also a different kind of story.’ And it is – there is love and compassion and hope and your heart will break and swell….

OK, yes – I love this book. It might not be the book for everyone. The sport theme might put you off. It’s not a thrill-a-minute, car-chase adventure. It’s not Scandi noir. But if you care about literature, and if you appreciate good writing and characters you can believe in, then you should read this book. It is written with craft, and the story weaves back and forward with a skill that draws you in and you just can’t stop reading. Maybe it will change your life. Maybe it won’t. But it might make you simply pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t spoken to in a while and say ‘hello’. Just a simple ‘hello’. And they will understand that you care. These things matter.

In my review of Fredrik Backman's last tome "Beartown" I wrote that I found myself wishing that it was the first in a series of stories about the inhabitants of the titular town, and lo and behold, here is his next offering "Us Against You" which sees him returning to the rundown town in the middle of the forest, picking up soon after 'Beartown' ended. Ice hockey still dominates everyone's lives, but with the town divided and all the money going to their arch rivals in Hed, will the Beartown team be able to survive - either financially or from the fanatical warring fans who threaten to rip their small town apart.
In a similar vein to its excellent predecessor, 'Us Against You' revisits the beloved characters of the first novel (Bobo, Benji, Amat, Ana & Maya), with the worthy addition of Vidar, the bad-boy-trying-to-be-good. On these young shoulders lies the heavy burden of the future of the town. Without ice hockey, what else do they have?
This is another engrossing unputdownable piece of writing from Backman, filled with moments of elation, scary moments of suspense, threats of violence and way too many moments of heartbreak for my poor heart to bear. He hauls you willingly along on an emotional rollercoaster that never fails to leave you shocked and breathless one minute, and joyous and laughing the next. Hugely recommended.

After having read the first book in this series (Beartown or The Scandal, depending on where you are), I was very excited to get my hands on the sequel. I was very impressed with Backman's portrayal of a tight-knit hockey community thrust into turmoil by the rape of one of it's daughters. I was not expecting a second book as the first had ended quite neatly, but was excited to see where it would go.
Backman took the story further as the town goes through the aftermath of 'The Scandal'. I appreciated this because it is not often that we get a look into how these events work themselves out. As one of the main characters says, "I am not a victim, I am a survivor" because she is surviving the continuous repercussions of that night.
Although there were a few moments of unnecessary suspense where I was left with loose ends (they never ended up needing the hammer!), I thought this book did a great job of exploring each character's emotional response. There were some lovely sections where Backman explored familial relationships as well as the strong bond between community members. I would definitely recommend this and it's previous book to others!

Fredrik Backman’s writing has me in complete awe each time I experience it. I have heard wonderful things about his writing for years. I have only read Beartown/The Scandal and Us Against You and they are such a full a full body experience that I can’t imagine how his other books would make me feel. I read The Scandal last year and it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I still think about it now. It left such an impression on me that I don’t think it’ll ever fully disappear.

Us Against You is story about how fiercely and beautifully a small town protects its own. It also a story about how damaging and frightening it is when the same town turns against someone.

This is a worthy sequel to The Scandal. The best way to approach these books is head on. Just dive right in and be prepared to surface a changed person.

Did you read Beartown? Perhaps you read it in the brief period when it was called The Scandal? If not, stop here and go and read it now, because whilst you certainly can read Us Against You as a stand-alone, you will get so much more from it if you have read its predecessor.

These are books that soar above the crowd; novels that examine societal behaviour by tackling the big issues and putting them into small town life. If that sounds grandiose, it isn’t. Backman shows us humanity in all its forms; makes us laugh and cry, creates characters who can at once be divisive and healing and shows us how easily manipulation can make puppets of us all.

I adored Beartown and I loved Us Against You just as much. Backman’s writing is as smooth as silk and his narrative arcs are perfectly formed jewels. He has this trick of telling us at the beginning of the chapter what is going to happen, yet by the end of that chapter we are left astonished that it has.

If I am babbling, it’s because I have just finished this book and I want to tell the world how passionate I am about it.

After the deeply shocking and traumatic events that left Beartown shaken to its core, Us Against You returns to the town to consider the aftermath. The repercussions have been severe. Money has leeched away from the Beartown Hockey Club, a key player is now playing with the opposition team in Hed, and the spirit of the club has deteriorated until it is hardly worthwhile saving it.

In a town where jobs are scarce – and about to get scarcer- this is tantamount to writing off the people who live there forever. Yet, in the midst of a depressing scenario and where the repressed violence triggered by the events around the general manager’s daughter is just barely keeping below the surface, there is one man who sees how to use all of this to his personal advantage.

We watch in astonishment as this puppet master first saves the hockey team and then manipulates all around him so that his fingerprints are never quite on the gun, yet it is he who has made all the bullets. He is the one standing behind the town’s main players ensuring that disharmony will creep in; those ears instinctively fastening on the susurrus that will lead to their own downfall.

Backman has a love and respect for his characters that shines through on the page, whether they are at the time engaged in good or bad acts. He documents the wins and the losses on a sporting level whilst underling the personal cost to the town’s people.

Using gender and sexuality to make his case, he gently leads us through the gamut of emotions from despair to hope; from tears to joy and back again. He does that by using an almost Garrison Keillor like homespun narrative, except this is much sharper and more pointed. Instead of just showing us events, Backman takes us into the hearts and souls of his characters and makes them very real for us as he displays for us all their prejudices, their closest secrets and the lies they tell themselves and makes us love them just the same.

Intense, propulsive, shocking and teetering throughout on the verge of violence, this is a book that stirred all my emotions as the suspense mounted and the story took on a life of its own.

If you read nothing else, read this.

I enjoyed the first book in this series (‘Beartown' - and how pleased I am that the publishers reversed their decision to change its title for UK publication) so much that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this sequel and I wasn’t disappointed. We have only moved on a couple of months, the loose ends from ‘Beartown’ are gathered up and my favourite characters are still central to the action. If anything, the recapping of the last novel’s events, the scene-setting and the introduction of the main characters took too long. Even with this back story, I would not recommend reading this book without first reading ‘Beartown’, so I would have preferred to dispense with much of it.

The darkness of tone in Beartown persists, perhaps even more so as violence threatens all the characters at one stage or another. Political manoeuvrings and their effect on the hockey team - management, players and supporters - introduce a major new character and a fresh distraction to the game.

The writing is just as witty and perceptive as I’d expected. A couple of examples stood out for me.

‘Perhaps one day he’ll find words for that feeling of being different. How physical it is. Exclusion is a form of exhaustion that eats its way into your skeleton.’

‘Death does that to us, it’s like a phone call, you always remember exactly what you should have said the moment you hang up. Now there’s just an answering machine full of memories at the other end, fragments of a voice that are getting weaker and weaker.’

Where in BEARTOWN I appreciate the flitting back, forth, sideways style of narrative, bouncing from one character and one event (related, but still) to another, in US AGAINST YOU I felt it was more confusing and less cohesive than during it's predecessor. Not to mention I just didn't love the story. You know post-BEARTOWN that not everything is in a good place, things are fraught and awful and damaged, but I didn't realize how badly I didn't want to read about it until I started this.

“Guys never think about light, it just isn't in their lives. When guys are scared of the dark, they're scared of ghosts and monsters, but when girls are scared of the dark, they're scared of guys.”

Between the slow, choppy pacing, unpleasantness of the situation in the town, I struggled through this book. But I knew, because I had loved BEARTOWN so much, that I had to find the love for this one eventually. Yet it was a close call. Backman left moments of beauty and pain and beautiful pain throughout the events and realizations of his characters, and he also gave layers to characters that would otherwise be two dimensional or standard tropes. That's where this story succeeded. This story felt like the Cinderella story you so often see in sports (and how fitting is that, really). It was the comeback for the town, for some of the people, for those who love a sport that isn't always kind to you, and it was about embracing differences and embarking on change. But.. it was still rough.

“Sometimes hating one another is so easy that it seems incomprehensible that we ever do anything else.”

I haven't yet done my own embarking on Backman's backlist despite promising myself I would. I don't feel any differently about the author's abilities or talent despite enjoying this one less than the previous. I think my problem had to do more with the story and less the meaning behind it.

Beartown is a town struggling to survive, left shell shocked and reeling after traumatic events swept through it with the force of a destructive emotional hurricane. We return to the place where hockey is loved with a religious passion, defining the community identity, with returning old and new characters. Any lover of sport will love and relate to this story, and those readers that are not should know that whilst this is ostensibly about hockey, it is in reality a tale of all that it is to be human. This is about people with all their complexities, flaws, ugliness, vulnerabilities, machinations, hatreds, courage, joy and hope. What I can guarantee is that you will be taken through an intense maelstrom of emotions, from the depths of despair, grief, sadness, right through to hope and joy. Beartown simmers with violence just waiting to be unleashed, presenting a challenge and quandries to community and individuals.

Thanks to manipulative political decisionmaking, the nearby town of Hed gains the resources and many of Beartown's hockey players, igniting strong feelings of them and us as a new hockey team is set up in response. An unexpected newcomer is appointed as coach, Elizabeth Zackell, a strong, tough and competent woman. Benji, with his secrets and inner demons gnawing at him, is made Captain, with the team including the gifted Amat and his best friend, Bobo, a grafter, along with the volatile Vidar, a goalkeeper with a ferocious temper. Peter Andersson faces family difficulties, his marriage to Kira is beginning to show its cracks, Maya's suffering continues though is eased to some degree with her strong friendship with Ana, and poor Leo thinks he should have protected his sister. As the rivalries and tensions escalate, danger and heartbreak lies ahead as individuals are tested to their limits.

Fredrik Backman writes a profoundly moving, multi-layered novel which will appeal to fans of any sport and to those drawn to the dynamics of a small town fighting to stay alive, where everyone knows everyone and their history. Beartown harbours secrets, prejudices, sexism, bullying, political intrigue and more. I continue to adore Benji, feeling for him throughout his troubles and Ramona, at the Bearskins pub. This is an introspective character driven story that is thought provoking in true Backman style touching on important issues such as parenting. Just absolutely brilliant reading, intense, twisted, gripping, full of suspense and I understand that another Beartown novel will follow, I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with these much loved characters. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

The people we came to love, the town we adored, the passion that inspired us, and the sport we learnt to adore (with only a fraction of the amount that Beartown does), returns to once again wrench our guts and test our fortitude.

Once or twice earlier on in the book I did think to myself that Us Against You lacked the originality that Beartown provided, but those thoughts were quickly overshadowed as I was drawn once again into a world I didn’t want to leave. The writing it sensational and Backman’s ability to induce emotion and sentiment is incredible.

Nothing much else to say. Just do yourself a favour and get yourself a taster of Beartown.

“The complicated thing about good and bad people alike is that most of us can be both at the same time”

Thanks you NetGalley and Penguin UK for a review copy!

I would like to thank Penguin UK/Michael Joseph and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Us Against You’ written by Fredrik Backman in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
This is the story of two ice hockey teams, Beartown and Hed, and the people of Beartown. Peter Andersson is General Manager of the Beartown ice hockey team and when it’s broadcast that the club is going into liquidation, politician Richard Theo steps up and arranges sponsorship from London with Elizabeth Zackell becoming the new trainer.
‘Us Against You’ follows on from Backman’s previous novel ‘The Scandal’. I enjoyed reading once again about the lives of Beartown’s residents and the lengths they’ll go to to keep the ice hockey team solvent. The story flowed nicely, was well-written and had an interesting plot, and although lacking in any great excitement was nevertheless an enjoyable read.

I loved Baretown and was beyond excited to read the sequel. From the first page I was under the spell of the the magic that is Fredrick Backman's writing and all my favourite characters were there, so I just can't give Us Against You anything less than 5 stars, even though I didn't enjoy it as much as Baretown. Comparing the two, the second book is definitely the weaker one. It is much slower, even repetitive in places, and the ending was a bit of an anticlimax after a very long buildup. I also thought that one of the strength of Baretown was that it was about ordinary people and their lives and the political undercurrents in the second book weren't necessary in my opinion. However, Us Agains You is still a great book, which I enjoyed a lot and I am hoping there will be a third book, as I am not ready to part with Benji, Amat, Maya, Kira and the other characters.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.