REVIEW: Us Against You

Us Against You
Author: Fredrik Backman

Beartown. Hockey. The two go together and always have. A little town in the middle of a forest loves its hockey team. Amid turmoil in the wake of a rape case involving a star player, residents of Beartown find out their hockey club is going to be disbanded. All the public money will be going to the team in nearby Hed. When a new team sponsor, a wily politician and other factions get involved to save Beartown hockey, emotions and old jealousies start to boil underneath the surface. It becomes more than a sport, wanting to win, believing in the local team....morphing into something that might be dangerous. It's no longer really about hockey and innocent town rivalry.  When all is done, one person is dead and everyone is left wondering what happened to make things so out of control.

Coming from the midwest where American football is serious business, I identify with the small town politics and behind-the-scenes wrangling where sports is concerned. The need to win....the undercurrents....intense team rivalries....the situations that make people lose it. I loved this book! The effect that change has on Beartown....an all new hockey team, a female coach, economic and social concerns...it all combines to make the situation volatile. It all comes down to the final game....  I'm not going to say much more about the plot to avoid any spoilers. If you loved Beartown, you will love this sequel! I love how Backman creates so many diverse characters and ties them together with hockey. The characters are vibrant and realistic. I found myself comparing the Beartown players with kids I knew growing up. I had a real-life equivalent for all of them. It made me wonder where those ghosts from my childhood are today.

This book is an awesome and powerful follow up to Beartown. When does the love for playing and watching sports morph into something else? I've seen those parents who sit in the bleachers at games yelling inappropriate things at both the opposing team and their own children.....I've seen fights erupt over sports.....and read the stories about deaths related to anger over games. In towns where sports are more than just local kids playing a game, so much gets added into the mix....politics, rivalries, economics, greed, jealousy, anger.....  It can be a volatile mix.

This is the second book by Fredrick Backman that I've read. And I'm hooked. I have A Man Called Ove on my tbr shelf to read next, and two on hold at the library. There is always quite the long waiting list for his books on my local library's digital site. There's a reason for that -- his books are excellent!!! Well worth my wait in line!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Atria via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**