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Us Against You cover art

Us Against You

By: Fredrik Backman
Narrated by: John Sackville
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Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Us Against You by Fredik Backman, read by John Sackville. 

A small, broken town sits on the edge of a frozen lake surrounded by a forest, its wounds still raw from a tragedy that tore its fragile community in two.

Beartown has lost its way. Now the cold and dark that surround the snowbound town creep in, and so do new conflicts and tensions. What was once a friendly rivalry with the neighbouring town is beginning to turn sinister and Beartown braces itself for another tragic blow.

How far will the people of Beartown go to preserve their reputations for a second, deadly time?

Us Against You is a spell-binding exposition of small-town life in all its flawed complexity.

©2018 Fredrik Backman (P)2018 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Us Against You

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding

Incredible sequel to Beartown. Fredrik Backman is an outstanding writer. The depth of compassion and thoroughness he approaches these big issues with is mindblowing.
These books explore masculinity, in view of toxic masculinity. But there is nothing black and white here though. First book explored it more from the feminine viewpoint (and despite being a male writer he did 110%justice to it), second explored it more from the male point of view.
I have cried like never before while listening - my heart broke over and over in the most beautiful way. Catharsis is rarely reached by reading, but God knows these two made it happen.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible book, better than the first one

It took me a while to get into the first book, 'Beartown' but it set the scene very well for 'Us Against You', which I actually enjoyed far more. The themes of heartbreak, loyalty, family, violence, love and grief are explored in more powerfully emotional ways in this novel compared with 'Beartown'. I found myself far more deeply invested in the plot of 'Us Against You' since I knew the characters' history from book one.

This time the plot is rather more gangland and a few of the political figures seem cardboard and uninteresting. By contrast, the thug figures are far more subtly drawn, and mob boss Teemu Rinnius is particularly sympathetic. It is the family dynamics that Backman sketches most skilfully and form the emotional girth of the story.

Like the first book, the cast of characters is wide and the scope of interlocking plot threads is ambitious. However, the story feels carefully edited so as not to waste pace on storylines that don't matter. Backman ensures we care about every life we zoom into, from the overweight depressed foreign kid to the grumpy old man in the pub. That said, there does seem to be rather too many exceptionally talented kids in one single town and this idealism bleeds at the edges of the tale. We never really get away from a rainbow gleaming worldview where good always wins over evil. All the same, this lends a pervading sense of hope to the reader's ravaged heart by the end of the novel (Blackman can't resist killing off a few more characters in this book and the emotional turmoil is intense). Overall, 'Us Against You' is an exceptionally well crafted set of narratives with the childhood nostalgia of Stephen King ('It') and the blood-soaked grit of Malorie Blackman ('Noughts and Crosses').

As far as narrative tone goes, we quickly become accustomed to deep and thought provoking questions opening virtually every chapter. Not all of these are really explored to their fullest or followed up completely, but they certainly evoke a serious emotional tone even if the structure is a little repetitive. I personally enjoyed this style of storytelling, as the narrator directly challenges the reader to reflect on the meaning of very large existential questions. It acknowledges the spiritual complexity of the reader, and involves us in our own psychological creation, even as the text creates the psychological characters around us.

When someone told me 'Beartown' was a psychological novel, I instinctively disagreed as I felt it was mostly consisted of plot action and speech. Yet 'Us Against You' absolutely fits this description, as greater care is taken to depict the cast's memories, motivations and moments of passion. Even though some plot moments are fairly dramatic, it never steers into melodrama and all the novel's interest remains in the reactions of the emotionally-driven personae around each material event.

When it comes to language, this sequel is far more emotionally rich than its predecessor. The metaphors are more intelligent, more careful, and their echo lasts longer in the mind:

"Grief is a wild animal that drags us so far out into the darkness that we can’t imagine ever getting home again."

On first reading, this wild animal is a deceptively simple image; the story takes place in a forest, why wouldn't we see wild animals? Yet the dreadful vagueness of "animal" as opposed to any specific beast reminds us of the dull dread all humans go through in bereavement. The symbol of the bear takes on more meaning in this novel than the first; the death of a family member as a pain that never departs, always growls.

Backman's poetic voice has matured and we even enjoy momentary glimpses of Maya's lyricism that we didn't get to see in 'Beartown':

"I wish you courage
I wish you rushing blood
A heart that beats too hard
Feelings that make everything too hard
Love that gets out of control
The most intense adventures
I hope you find your way out
I hope you’re the kind of person
Who gets a happy ending."

This poem/song contains all the soulfelt abandon of a teenage girl unafraid to show all the colours of her creative love. Choosing to share with the reader a scrap of Maya's unfiltered expression is a startlingly refreshing moment of connection for the reader. We have spent much of this novel (and the first) unable to see Maya clearly or hear her directly, drowned out as she often is by the rage, hatred and pride of those around her.

By the end of the novel, the narrative bearly touches on describing hockey matches because focus is fully absorbed in the emotional struggles of being human. For a small town culture of woodland masculinity, pervasive alcoholism and bruised children, the setting is surprisingly relatable for the average non-Swedish urban reader. When alcohol-drowned loneliness hangs such dark clouds hanging over the heads of Beartown children, the reader can forgive overtones of somewhat fanciful idealism. Given all that Backman puts his characters through, our hearts remain just about intact when unlikely plot points of redemption surface. While 'Beartown' was not shy of depicting the punishing PTSD arising from rape, 'Us Against You' was decidedly more hopeful about the prospects of a rosie friendship between a hardened criminal and a gay hockey player.

Perhaps the natural liberal inclinations of young people really are a redemptive force of society or maybe the author just felt he'd put the readers through enough violence at last. Either way, such strong rays of hope as these left the reader feeling able to walk away thinking "I enjoyed that book" rather than "society is broken and I am dead inside". And we all needed that, truly.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A story about people

I love the way Fredrik backman writes, he is so descriptive. Its a story about relationships and life, you definitely don't need to know anything about ice hockey.
Great narration too

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

us against you

Great story, good follow up to Bear Town. enjoyed getting to know the characters better.
narration was excellent. narrator was able to differentiate between the characters really well.
looking forward to the next part

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Consuming read

So I read the first book in this series and then decided to listen to the second not sure which way I’ll opt for consuming the third….

I really enjoyed both books and would highly recommend them, which ever way you choose to devour them.

The way the author threads together the plot, via each a complex array of character personality, actions and motivation then hangs it on a town with an ice hockey rink, is a work of art!

I have scored the performance 3 stars, not because of the voice actors abilities (he did a great job) but because in my head Beartown is located in Canada or a
Nordic country and the English accent(s) just seemed mismatched. I felt that the second book has less moments that lightened the content than the first and I am not sure if that was down to the tone of the narrators voice or if the content of the book was slightly darker.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Can't wait to read volume 3 now

After enjoying Beartown so much, I wasn't sure I would've liked this book... Well in the end it was even better! You can't not fall in love with all the complexity of Beartown's inhabitants, although you must be prepared to see someone go and leave. Now I'm looking forward to reading part 3 of this trilogy: The Winners.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant writing and narration continues

Captivating storylines, characters with heartwarming and heartbreaking depth and, in my opinion, the best narrator. Love this trilogy so much and can't wait to listen to the last installment.

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Captivating, emotional - brilliant!

I thought Beartown was brilliant and am not usually a fan of sequels, but Us Against You is even better.
The themes in this book are huge - love, loss, family, friendship, power, prejudice, sport, small town struggles- and so much more. The intricate plot is woven brilliantly and characterisation developed subtly. Heartbreakingly beautiful and life affirming. Up there as one of the best books I have ever read.
My only issue was with the odd accents in the narration, but that really didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment.
Fredrik Backman has just become one of my favourite authors.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Those accents!

The story is dull, but the real problem is the accents. A group of people who have all lived in the same area and yet all have different, apparently random accents. It's very offputting and makes no sense.

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  • Overall
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Loved it

Didn’t realise there were any more books after Beartown, when I saw this I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t think it would draw me in as much as the first one, it’s a slow burn, but it completely got me. Walked to work some extra days to get focussed listening time. One more to go, but I’m going to take a short break before I savour that one. Fredrik Backman is such an amazing writer and John Sackville is a brilliant narrater.

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