Us Against You

Review : Us against you by Fredrik Backman
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Backman continues to impress me with his writing in Us Against You. I loved returning to this town and seeing how some of my favourite characters had grown. As in Beartown, this novel tackles challenging topics including violence, mental health, empathy, hatred and love. It discusses gender and sexuality in sports. These topics continue to be discussed within the themes of community, forgiveness, family, acceptance and the work it can take to maintain relationships. This book is not only an enjoyable read but it provides the reader with an opportunity for self reflection and personal growth.

In true Backman style the narration and imagery are beautiful. Though many parts of this story are emotional I still felt hopeful after finishing the novel. It is an emotional read that won’t drain you but still lets you feel for each and every character. Another 5 star read from Fredrik Backman.

Additional review will be posted to my instagram account closer to publication date: https://www.instagram.com/simpleexplorations/

ARC was provided in exchange for a honest review from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada.

《“It’s only a sports club, there are more important things.” It’s easy to say that sort of thing if you believe that sports is merely a matter of numbers. But it never is, and you can only understand that if you start with the simplest question: how does it feel for a child to play hockey? It’s not so hard to answer that. Have you ever been in love? That’s how it feels.》

I went into Us Against You without knowing it was a sequel, and I did okay following the story, although you are going to want to read Beartown (I do).

Us Against You is full of emotion and heart. I highly recommend it. I was told to read Beartown first to get the full effect.

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this book. More typos than usual, but still another amazing story by Backman about the people of Beartown and Hed. Strongly recommended.

Backman does it again. In the small town of Beartown, The town faces another blow as the hockey club threatens to close. What will take for a town to save the one thing that keeps it together.

I am amazed once again at how Backman is able to take almost every current and timely topic facing humanity and weave it into a story that I just cannot stop reading. It is not easy reading or even pleasant to read all the time, but still I cannot stop. His characters and interesting and multi-dimensional. The narrator gives you just enough to keep you turning the pages, but not to much so that you would predict exactly what is happening. And through it all he speaks truth about life, relationships and everything in between. I will read anything he will write.

I felt a bit lost at the beginning of this novel because I hadn't read the previous story and I think that would have helped understand the mentality of the town. But I think the author did a good job of dribbling in the backstory to paint the picture of devastation, loss and pain rippling through this town.

I loved how the story picked up multiple POV's. Each character's story was individually tragic and linked together you have to wonder how any town could survive the anger and accusations. It also spoke volumes to how the treatment of sports and the mentality that winning is everything, your life must BECOME the sport is so destructive to society. The anger and violence inspired by the events in this town and the competition between these teams is destroying the people. And this picture is recreated every day in hockey rinks around the world. The belief that "my child will be a superstar" drives adults to behave unspeakably.

This story spoke truth and that truth is so sad. I think all parents with a child playing hockey should read this. Don't get to this point. The game, is just that...a game. And while yes, some will reach superstardom most will just play the game and enjoy it before moving on to the rest of their lives

I absolutely loved this book.
It was such an amazing follow up to Bear Town.
The juxtaposition of Maya's songs against what was happening in the town was so poignant.

Everyone: if you are NOT reading this book series, you MUST read it immediately. Set in a small town in Sweden that is 'all about' its hockey, what happens when a major incident involving the star hockey player goes down? How does the town fracture around it?

This is the second book, and it follows the fracture lines farther.

Backman's writing is simply exceptional here, and the way in which he writes flash-forwards into the narrative is inspired.

LOVED LOVED LOVED.

“It’s so easy to think that what we post online is like raising your voice in a living room when it’s actually more like shouting from the rooftops. Our fantasy world always has consequences for other people’s realities.”

Us Against You was equally as good as Beartown. I don’t want to give too much away but these books have reserved a very special place in my heart.

I’ve heard some people say they liked Us Against You even better than Beartown and I’ve heard the opposite … for myself, I don’t think I have a preference. They were both amazing in their own right and they both covered very crucial topics about our society today. I truly love this town and the people in it. These are the types of books that you find yourself rooting for the characters and I ended up feeling very invested in their lives.

Seriously though, all I can say is read these books. They are extremely powerful and relatable to our world.

I’ve also heard rumours that there will be a third book …? I cannot wait for that if it’s true!

Incredible. After finishing Beartown I couldn't put the characters of this small town aside, so when I heard that Us Against You followed the same characters I was ecstatic. The book is full of heart, moving, and provides closure after processing the events from Beartown. I love the way the author writes, bringing life to his characters, and dropping you into a town full of conflict and complexities. I highly recommend this book!

I found the first book, Beartown on the shelf of my local Chapters book store and fell in love with the community of Beartown and its many characters. A few favourites stood out from the start; Ana, Benji, Bobo and Maya. I finished the first book within a few days and the anticipation for this second book built quickly.

Thanks to another reviewer on Goodreads, I found out about Net Galley and signed up in hopes that "US Against You" would be available. I had already pre-ordered a hard copy but September is a long way away when you are excited for something.

Luckily, I received permission to read this book and I devoured it as quickly as I could. Emotions ran high with this one as the communities of Hed and Beartown go head-to-head, both on and off the ice. My favourites have returned and each are faced with their own hardships and battles of strength. I can see pieces of myself in all of them.

This series is a definite Not-Miss and I highly recommend it to book lovers everywhere.

Thank you Fredrik Backman, Simon and Schuster, Net Galley and Goodreads.

I loved this book, just like the first one. Backman has the great ability to get you invested in everyone in this story, which is surprising considering how many characters are in it! I found the story to have a fantastic mix of elements, and there wasn't anything I particularly disliked. The one thing I a bit less enthusiastic about was how the author used "deceptive foreshadowing", where he made us think something was going to happen and then something else happened. Other than that though, a book that was just great as the first one.

The lesson here: people are much more complicated than "good" or "bad". It's always a mix.

I have read and enjoyed all of this author's works, but I think this may be his best one yet. Not just for hockey fans, this is a wonderful story filled with observations on life. It is told in a bit of different style that takes a bit of time to get used to, but is a fabulous story and so worthy of your time.

It’s bittersweet to finish this book as I no longer have it to look forward to reading. I absolutely loved Beartown and now I can say I absolutely loved Us Against You. It’s easily as good as Beartown. I can’t say it’s better, as I don’t think it’s possible to outdo Beartown!

This is the type of book that, upon finishing the last page, I needed to sit and digest the story for a few minutes (while wiping the tears from my eyes!). When reading this, as with Beartown, I felt like I was a part of the story. I felt like I knew the characters and felt all of their emotions right along with them. I will miss the residents of Beartown once again and I hope that there will be a third book.

I enjoyed Backman’s insights as with his previous books but I found this book more difficult to get into. The repetitive foreshadowing I felt took away from the narrative and interfered with the flow of this book. The unique characters of Beartown again manipulated my emotions with the same anxiety and anticipation. I find books that show the worst of human nature difficult to get through so perhaps this book isn’t as good a fit for me as “A Man named Ove”.

This book, as Beartown was, is phenomenal!
This book starts from where Beartown ended. Do not read this book if you have not read Beartown.

Beartown is a town in decline. It needs its hockey team to boost morale. There is so much at play in this book- the politics behind sports; the hatred between towns and teams; the loyalty of friends and families as well as the betrayals.
In so many ways, the people in this book tore at my heart, but the hatred absolutely terrified me. But yet, I couldn't stop reading this book. Fredrik Backman has brought each and every person to life. He really knows people- he gets them and all their strengths and weaknesses.
This book is less about the time on the ice than what happens off the ice. My eyes were opened to everything that goes into supporting a team and its players. As well, what the players and families have to endure in the name of hockey!
This book was amazing-there was so much more tension than the previous book, that I felt on edge throughout.
Highly recommend this book!

Beartown made me teary eyed at the pharmacy waiting room but Us Against You made me bawl my eyes out in my living room. Thankfully my husband was not home at that time to mock me! I don't know how Backman can take a subject like young men playing hockey in a small town and completely break my heart with it. He has very quickly become one of my favourite authors and I can't wait to pick up more of his books! 5🌟

(Thanks to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.)

A huge thanks to @netgalley & @simonschusterca for this review copy of one of my most anticipated reads! Beartown was one of my top three favourite books last year, and I can’t tell you how excited I was to read the follow-up. Thankfully, it fully lived up to my expectations and all the hype around it. First of all, I can’t get over how adept Backman is at writing books completely in tune with our current societal moment. Us Against You is fundamentally a story about the causes and consequences of polarization, division, and the hate that can fester among groups. It’s full of empathy, insight, and moments of connection. It definitely gave me a lot to think about in its discussion of how populist politicians are able to create conflict and division just to further their own agendas. But even if you couldn't care less about social commentary, this is also just an incredible story with characters that you can feel invested in. If you loved Beartown, you should absolutely pick this one up. Prepare yourself though, you might tear up a few times.

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman is one of the most anticipated sequel this year. It all started in Beartown where hockey is everything to everybody. The lives of a young girl, a team captain and his best friend changed forever in the first book. The sequel picks up where the first book ended and it is a wild ride thereafter. How far will the people from Beartown go to support their hockey team? Too far? Most likely. This book is another tour de force by Backman. A must-read if you have read Beartown already.

A big shoutout to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this wonderful ARC of Us Against You. This book will be available at your favourite bookstore on September 4th, 2018.

#bookstagram #books #bookaddict #bookreviews #bookreview #usagainstyou #fredrikbackman #netgalley #simonandschuster

I read Beartown earlier this month and enjoyed it a fair bit, but it did have its shortcomings. So I went into Us Against You with some reservations. Those reservations proved to be completely unnecessary; this is without a doubt the best book I've read so far this year!

Us Against You felt much less repetitive than Beartown to me. It was much less focused on rehashing the same events over and over, and the foreshadowing felt a lot more successfully applied here than in the previous book. I think it also helped a lot that I was already invested in the characters' lives from having read the previous book, so the connection I felt with them this time around was much stronger. I was fully invested in this novel from the very beginning and couldn't put it down.

This book was absolutely emotionally devastating. I found myself tearing up nearly every other chapter, and I got literal chills more than once while reading. Beartown's inhabitants each have a distinct voice and personality, fears and motivations all their own. The emotions that Backman manages to convey through his characters are raw and real. It's what truly makes his novels stand out, and that skill felt exceptionally well-honed in this novel.

This is an absolutely gorgeous novel by an author with an incredible skill for handling difficult subjects with grace and tact, while not shying away from the uglier aspects of the subject. I cannot say enough good things about this novel, and I urge anyone looking for an engrossing read to pick up both Beartown and Us Against You!

Wow. What an emotional read. This novel, a sequel to Backman’s Beartown, follows the people of Beartown and Hed as they continue to see the full impact one persons actions can have. Maya was the one raped but the fall out goes so much farther beyond her. This story was emotionally challenging to read at times but so well written. If you liked Beartown then you need to read this. And if you haven’t read Beartown you should read that too.

Us Against You continues where Beartown left off. Peter Andersson is struggling with the ruins of Beartown Hockey. The majority of the old team has gone to play in Hed, Beartown’s rival club.

The rest of Peter's family is left dealing with the aftermath of the rape of his daughter, Maya. His son, Leo, is left with pent up anger over failing to protect his sister. With nowhere to turn, he attracts the attention of the Pack, Beartown's gang.

Benji, one of the Beartown players left on Maya's side, is dealing with his own demons. He is a closeted gay boy, in a very small, isolated community. When Beartown Hockey gets new sponsors, the coach wants Benji to be the captain of the new A team.

The book follows the creation of a new Beartown A team, which creates friction between Beartown and Hed. As the friction comes to climax, the two towns are left wondering what it's going to cost them to keep their team.

MY THOUGHTS
I grew up in a small mining community in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. I was a rink rat, I grew up being dragged to my brother's hockey games. Cheering for our local junior hockey team, The Flin Flon Bombers. Long Canadian winters are made for hockey.

I saw so many parallels between my own community and the fictional one created in the book. The mine is our only industry and if it shut it's doors, our community will cease to exist. I know what that fear is like. I also know what a lifeline hockey has been to my community. I understood Beartown intimately.

I was so excited to read this book because I loved Beartown so much. Us Against You did not disappoint.
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Us Against You had the task of continuing the story started in the first book. It did that beautifully, in the end. But I felt some of the other storylines got in the way. The politics of keeping the club running, the reasons for all the fighting between Hed and Beartown, the rebuilding of the hockey team, and then there was the the aftermath of the storyline from Beartown to deal with.

Then there were a few smaller storylines going, too. The hockey coach, the Pack’s involvement in the club, Benji’s sexual orientation, and the four-year-old phenom girl hockey player. It was a lot of balls to keep in the air, and some felt more necessary than others.

At the end of the day, I loved being back in Beartown. I loved seeing Benji come full circle, as he's my favourite character. I adored seeing where the Andersson's ended up, individually and as a family. I enjoyed seeing behind-the-scenes of Bobo's family.
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Backman is one of my favourite authors, his books make me think about humanity. I always end up saying, “YES!” out loud while reading them because he is great at creating characters that feel real, like people you know. His insights into human nature are incredible and he doesn't disappoint in Us Against You. I walked away with a ton of quotes that I will refer back to for years.

The second book in the Beartown series, I was happy to get to follow this small town again as they navigated life through a series of tensions again related to the local hockey team. As the original Beartown team disbands and falls apart after the tensions from the previous summer cause people to take sides. Hockey players end up either choosing to stay with Beartown and a rival team in Hed.
As the big game between Beartown and Hed approaches, all of the tensions between these kids pile up. The book continues to allude to the death of a member of the community, and I was continuously drawn in to figure this out,
Us Against You is more than a hockey book. It is about small town, love, and rising above our personal struggles.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

I very much enjoyed revisiting the people from Beartown! While this book didn't focus quite so much on the game of hockey, it was a focal point. This book was more about the politics of having and keeping a hockey team in a particular town. It was about the rivalries that exist between teams and their supporters. But mostly, this book is about people and all of their faults and strengths and emotions.
This author has a way of describing events and people and how they react to things that is nothing short of amazing. He tugs at your heartstrings and leaves tears in your eyes. You feel the hurt or anger of the characters. Fredrik Backman certainly knows how to write a very good, character driven story.
I like how the people described are portrayed as all too human. They all have faults and do stupid, misguided things. They live their lives as best they can and they all love the Beartown Bears...

Us Against You is the second book in the Beartown series. You could say it is about hockey in a small town, and the survival of the Beartown team, but it’s really about all the different characters in the small town and their relationships with each other. In Us Against You, I think the author went even further into each character – the families, the neighbourhood gang members, the twelve-year-old boy, the local bar owner – no one is one dimensional. And just when you think you know how things will go, it doesn’t go that way at all. This book had me under its spell just as much, and probably more, than the first Beartown book, called Beartown. There is something about the atmosphere created by the author that keeps you pulled in. It was very captivating and moving, and I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend it to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has already been released in the United States, however, the Canadian release date is set for September 4, 2018.

In this sequel to Beartown, we reconnect with all the characters that we loved or in some instances, drove us crazy.

The start of this book picks up pretty much where Beartown left off. The local hockey team is in jeopardy because the star players have gone to the rival team of Hed to play and the Beartown hockey club is bankrupt. Peter’s job is in jeopardy and his marriage is in trouble; Maya is still recovering from her rape, Leo is a lost soul and tensions are on the rise between Beartown and Hed.

Entering the scene is a new character, Theo, who is a politician and master manipulator. He starts pulling strings behind the curtains ratcheting up the tension between the two towns by deliberately setting people off against each other.

Once again Backman writes the story with compelling characters showing us that we can feel empathy and forgiveness to others even if we do not agree with their beliefs or actions.

Us Against You, a refreshing piece of contemporary fiction, sees the return of the people of Beartown in their continuing battle to save their town, their hockey and even their lives in this emotionally charged description of life in a small community in rural Sweden. Maya, an emotionally destroyed teenager, Benji a star player with a secret, and “the Pack” are just of few of the protagonists we have missed since they were first introduced to us in Fredrik Backman’s Beartown.

Beartown is in peril. The hockey team is bankrupt and the town council has decided to support another team. The local factory is shutting down and jobs are being lost. People are divided over whether or not the team should be supported. An unknown sponsor buys the factory and supports the team, but not without conditions that put many people at odds with each other.

Backman sums it up best. “This has been a story about ice rinks and all the hearts that beat in and around them. About people and sports and how they sometimes take it in turns to carry each other. About us, dreaming and fighting. Some have fallen in love and some have been destroyed, we’ve had good days and some very bad days.”
The story is also so much more than this. It is emotionally draining and at the same time uplifting. It gives you faith in people and their resiliency in the face of adversity.

Backman is a master at Character development. He gives you so much detail about each person that you begin to know them personally and develop a vested interest in how well they do. Even Vidal, who is a boy bound for prison, is a person you can’t help but love.

“Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.”

Backman uses foreshadowing often and effectively. He creates a sense of anticipation that makes the book a real page-turner. Sometimes the event turns out to be anti-climatic but you still race to get there expecting something else. For example at one point someone dies of cancer when you have hurried to get to that point in the story thinking there was going to be a murder.

I highly recommend this book, but suggest that Beartown is a must read before you dive into Us Against You. I would give the pair of books a 10 out of 5 if possible. Five stars for sure for Us Against You

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with this book in exchange for a fair review.

Frederik Backman's Beartown series has been a truly enjoyable and emotional read. These books are set in a hockey town in Sweden, but they are nominally about hockey...their real focus is the trials and events that bring a community together and tear it apart. Backman has such sharp insights into human behaviour and an entertaining writing style. In this book, he focuses on many themes including relationships, politics, homophobia, coming of age issues, and parenting, amongst others.

Us Against You was an excellent follow-up to the absolutely outstanding Beartown. In this book, we follow the developments that take place in the year after the events of Beartown. We again view the progress of Benji (my absolute favourite in these books), Maya, Ana, Amat, Ramona, etc. and we are introduced to some new characters too. I found this one a bit slow to get into, but by the halfway point, I was again immersed in the stories of this town.

Thank you to the author, Simon & Schuster Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel to read and review.

The sequel to Bear Town tells the stories of the the two towns and the people within them.
Well written ,the story evolves telling about the rivalry between people and towns and all the elation ships within them . A wonderful read , following up on the original Bear Town story .

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy. What a thrill!
After reading the previous book, Beartown, which I loved so much, I was a bit sceptical about this follow up. The first 25% was mostly flashbacks from the first book, so I was a bit annoyed, but mostly because I started this book immediately after finishing Beartown, so I did not need to be reminded of the facts. Regardless, what a terrific book this one is. What a great insight of the human nature the author has. What a great way to write a book. It touched my soul. Most of the time I was on the brink of tears. Wonderful characters. I especially loved Benjamin and the hockey coach Elisabeth Zackell and Ramona. You don’t need to love hockey in order to enjoy both books. I hope for another follow up. These characters deserve a long life.

Wow; I finished Us Against You yesterday but needed to wait til I wrote my review.

I loved Beartown, and Us Against You is equally as good.

I could read this book again, something I never do, there was so many statements that when I was reading them I said, oh that is so true.

I loved all the characters, you know someone from the town will be dead at the end ; but who ?

I found myself saying, oh please no, not this person.

It's a story about a town that has had so many upheavals and are about to lose their hockey team; that is what keeps and makes the town

I can't recommend this book highly enough. You should read Beartown first to get the full effect.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity; I will pick up my copy as soon as it is available in Canada

This is a beautiful continuation of the 'Beartown' story. The book is full of lines that describe feelings we all have but could never express so eloquently. Backman is brilliant in his ability to write what we ourselves find hard to express, truly insightful.

The book is an emotional roller coaster. All the best books make us FEEL something and this book made me FEEL everything! I found myself stopping so that I could delay ending what I did not want to end. To parcel out the emotions that were always waiting. To savour the story line knowing that it would be some time before another Backman book was written and maybe the last time these particular characters were written about.

Do not be afraid that this book appears to be about hockey. Sport is the backdrop for the story but you don't have to like hockey to like the book. This book is about the people in two small towns that are pitted against each other in a variety of political, economical and emotional ways and that tension is targeted at the rivalry between the two teams.

You do not have to read 'Beartown' to appreciate this book. The author provides enough back story to help you understand the current situation, HOWEVER, having read the first book I became so quickly invested in the next stages for these characters and I would not have wanted to miss all the deeper details provided in the first story. .

I love how Backman gives us small glimpses as to the future of some of the characters yet is able to keep us emotionally tangled up into what is coming next.

Too many lines I loved, here are a few:

'The path back to normal life is indescribably long once death has swept the feet out from under those of us who are left.'

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

'But when everyone is shouting it can be hard to hear the opposition, and once an avalanche of hate has started to roll is can be hard to tell who is responsible for stopping it.'

'Thanks. See you later.'
Those words are far too insignificant to topple a grown woman, but they mean the world if your'e someone's mom.

'Exclusion is a form of exhaustion that eats its way into your skeleton.'

'Life is so damn, damn, damn tough sometimes that it's almost unbearable. Even if that's the way it's supposed to be.'

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for allowing me to read an early version of this book for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book just as much if not more than Beartown. Everyone has to read this book! Please though read Beartown first. The characters in this story will stay with me for a long time after reading this story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of Us Against You, as usual all opinions are my own.

Do yourself a favour, go get this book, if you haven’t read Beartown get that one first, then get yourself a copy of this book when it comes out!
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One of the worst things about books with compelling characters, the kind that you get attached to and laugh with and cry over, is that at the end of the book their story goes on without you. It may seem a strange thing to say about made up people living made up lives, invented by an author, existing only in ink on a page, but for anyone who is a reader these feelings are common. Beartown was one of these books, the kind that leaves you with a hangover, the kind that makes you think, the kind that leaves you wanting to know more about these fictional people you’ve fallen in love with; Us Against You gives you more, and again leaves you with that same hope that there will be another book, another glimpse into these people’s lives, some answers (some you’re going to want, and some that will leave you devastated I’m sure).

While Beartown centred around small town hockey culture, culminating in one event and its aftermath, Us Against You is more about the way people relate to each other—both good and bad. It’s a deep dive into society, politics, and relationships (with a side of hockey drama). Backman does what he does best and takes us fully into the layers of humanity, capturing love, hate, parenthood, friendships, grief, and how these emotions drive us. The story itself was compelling, emotionally rapt, and engaging, though it did get slightly repetitive with the armchair philosophies in the middle. Overall, a great followup to Beartown, and hopefully not the last we will see of Benji, Amat, Bobo and the rest of Beartown residents.

Backman has done it again.

Whether it's been Ove, Britt-Marie, Beartown, and now, Us Against You, I have been so engrossed in his stories that his characters stay with me long after I turn the final page. The characters in this novel are so complex and real that I feel as though they could be my next door neighbours and that Beartown is just a short drive away. I lost count the number of times I cried and gasped during this whirlwind of 24hr reading period and will now go through intense separation anxiety as I attempt to recover.

My 3rd book by this author. I really enjoyed Beartown, which should be read prior to reading this one. This book had the same characters and started approximately 3 months after what happened in Beartown. I found the end of Beartown seemed to end with everything tidied up, wrapped with a bow. And reading this one, I did question some of the characters actions from Beartown.

The book is a good and easy read. Characters you could invest in. Without giving away details, I did have some as “if moments.” Some of the chapter endings, where they do a big reveal to get you to read the next chapter, we’re of a dramatic flare that seemed overdone. But overall I did enjoy this one and excited to read more by this author.

As expected, this book made me feel a lot. From beginning to end it is filled with impact through the actions of characters and through Backman's writing. While I did not quite enjoy it as much as Beartown, it fits very closely to the first novel, and I think it would be hard to like one and not the other.

This one felt slower than the first novel, possibly because I was already familiar with the characters and setting, or because the main action takes place later on, but it does not disappoint. I also appreciated that Backman didn't try as hard to build suspense through his writing as in Beartown, which at times felt unnatural. There was still suspense, and some misdirection, but it felt more natural.

After reading this novel, I'm heartbroken and need a hug, but I loved every second of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this advance copy of Us Against You. I was thrilled that my long wait for the sequel to the wonderful Beartown had finally come to an end. After finishing Beartown, my favourite book of fiction in 2017, I was impatient to learn what was next for the town and its people. I felt a deep connection with the deeply drawn characters. Love some and hate some; they were always intriguing and compelling. The author has a great understanding of human nature. Us Against You doesn’t disappoint. It was possibly even better than Beartown.

Fredrik Backman writes with emotion and is an exceptional story teller. His characters come to life on the pages and in our hearts and minds. There is humor but also great tragedy and passages of wisdom. At times heartwarming, but also heart wrenching and heartbreaking, I found it an intense reading experience as there was foreboding throughout which made me worry that something bad lay ahead on the pages.

This is the story of a small town in decline set in the Swedish forests. The people live for hockey and the local games are the highlight of the lives of players and their many fans. This should not deter any reader. I have no interest in hockey, but none is needed. It is about so much more: it is about the lives of people and the good and bad choices they make. It involves family connections, friendship, love, hate, rivalry, violence. Sometimes I had to interrupt my reading to wipe tears from my eyes.

I have heard there will be a third book and hope it is true. I want to know the future for Maya, Ana, Benji and his sisters, Ramona, Peter, Amat, Leo, Bobo, Zackell, Alicia, Teemu and all the others I have to come to know and love. Have already ordered a book as a gift and one for myself. Now for the long wait for the next book in the series!
To be published in Canada Sept 4 9781501163128