Author: Fredrik Backman

Translated by: Neil Smith

You are viewing: Who Dies In Us Against You

Rating: 5/5

The people of Beartown are dealt another blow when their hockey team is to be disbanded due to lack of funding. A rising politician tugs and arranges various strings to keep the local club intact while gaining power.

Sports and politics don’t make a good mix.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

The council reallocates Beartown’s hockey funds to the Hed team. People from both Beartown and Hed send Maya Andersson harassing texts. They also blame Peter and Kira is called by moving companies several times a week (a hint for them to get out). Peter and Kira’s marriage is struggling. He’s always put hockey first and she has had to compromise on her career. Maya feels she’s to blame for everything. Amat feels aimless and is tempted to drink alcohol. His friend Lifa stops him from doing so and until hockey season starts, there’s always someone to go running or train with him. A politician named Richard Theo wants political control and works for it throughout the book. He orchestrates numerous events: he hires Elisabeth Zackell as the new coach, makes Peter the GM and orders him to get rid of the standing area where the Pack usually stands, then goes behind Peter’s back and tells the Pack he’ll get the standing area back for them, gets Vidar Rinnius (younger brother of Teemu, the pack leader) out of a detention centre so he can play as goalie. He digs up dirt on other politicians and sends anonymous tips to the media. Benji shows Maya and Ana the island where he used to hang out with Kevin. Benji is made team captain by Elisabeth. Amat and Bobo play on the team too. Bobo’s mother has cancer and dies. Bobo takes up a lot of the responsibility. One night, Ana has to collect her drunk father from the bar and Benji helps her. She tries to kiss him and he stops it. Ana stalks him and takes a picture of him kissing their school teacher (a man Benji had met in a bar at Hed). She posts the pictures online outing him. Benji is harassed by the community which leads him to not play against Hed in the first away game. After the first two periods, Beartown is down 4-0. Benji arrives at the stadium and locks himself with the Pack after they were deliberately provoked. They let him go and he and Vidar play but the team loses 4-3. Vidar and Ana fall in love and date. Benji tells Maya to forgive Ana so she does. The two attend Jeannette’s martial arts classes together (Maya used to go alone) and realise Ana is a natural. Maya gets accepted into a music school. Kira decides to start her own firm with her colleague. The Beartown and Hed teams keep harassing one another which climaxes in Ramona’s pub, the Bearskin, getting burnt down. The Hed boys flee. Benji sees William Lyt (though Lyt had nothing to do with it) and they fight one on one but stop after reminiscing about the past (Benji even confesses he loved Kevin). The Pack chases after the Hed boys in their car. An old man is driving on the road and so is Kira with Maya. The cars collide. Ana runs to save the Hed boys but the old man’s car would have hit her so Vidar takes the hit and is killed. In the final match, Beartown and Hed both reconcile in their grief and Hed takes up the Beartown chant. Peter quits as GM and asks Kira if he can work as the HR person. Benji doesn’t go to the final match. He needs to get out of town. Teemu gives him the kitty money (this cash collection at the Bearskin which is given to people in need). Sune gets a preschool installed above the ice rink so Alicia, the four-year-old, won’t keep quitting school (Theo makes it happen). Amat is said to become a professional NFL player, Bobo becomes an assistant coach and a good father. Zacharias (Amat’s friend) becomes a gaming champion. Ana has her first martial arts competition.

Plot and Pacing

Backman has wrung me dry of tears with Us Against You. I don’t know what to do with my life now that I’ve finished reading. Everything pales in comparison. Books to me are what hockey is to Beartown. Kind of. But I’ve got an even worse book hangover than after I’d finished Beartown.

This book is about the intersection of sports and politics. It’s about the manipulation that goes down without our ever realising it. It’s about all the conflicts that spark from friction. And this all makes it really hard to pick out what is right from wrong. I wasn’t fond of Richard Theo but, like Peter, I wanted Beartown to win against Hed so badly it hurt. I wanted Beartown to crush Hed into smithereens. The only way to get that was for Theo to do his thing and twist people left and right.

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Backman portrayed the community’s interactions so well too-the backlash, the fighting, the unity. Beartown is the kind of place where when hockey is involved, everything is taken personally. I think it’s great that all those people have such a keen enthusiasm for hockey. It’s what a lot of us spend our whole lifetime craving-that one passion that we never get tired of. But in Beartown, it’s an all-consuming fire that sometimes prevents people from really thinking through their actions and that leads to a lot of shit. Like an innocent boy getting hit by a car to protect his girlfriend.

The pacing was spot on in this book. Beartown takes a while for the plot to really get going (though I loved how the first half of the book was so immersive and gave me a feel for the town and sport). Us Against You starts with a bang and ends with a bang. And the middle follows that same pattern: Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.

I’m so glad I didn’t put off reading this book any longer. Do yourself a favour and dive right in.

Characters

I think it’s fair to say that I would kill and die for Benji Ovich. He has my whole heart. It was horrible to see the whole town shun him just because he was gay. And then Benji had to do everything twice as well, be the best there could be just so people could look and say, “Oh, even a gay person can do it. They should be considered equals after all,” which is just so shitty. I get that being the first out gay hockey player meant that Benji had all these expectations hefted on him but it’s still so unfair. Hockey is hockey. One stick, one ball, two nets. Why do we have to complicate sports? I know Benji would hate me saying this but I can’t help but want to be more like him. Yes, he’s impulsive and has a violent streak. However, what I admire most about Benji is how he never strays from his morals even if it lands him in trouble or is painful to endure. Like how he stood by Maya even though he loved Kevin. Standing up to your enemies takes courage but standing up to your loved ones is a greater challenge.

What struck me about Benji in this book was how truly isolated he was.

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

In the first book, I got the sense that he was this wild child who one couldn’t help but fall in love with. He seemed like this untouchable force who didn’t give a damn about anything. In this book, I think that held true to a certain extent but it’s abundantly clear how alone Benji was. He had friends and followers and the Pack accepted him as one of their own. But he didn’t really have anyone to unload to. His sisters supported him but Benji didn’t always speak his mind to them, letting them do most of the guesswork. I could relate to that. I know that I’ve got “friends” but I still feel so alone and sometimes I wish I could just run and run and run. Maybe the other side will have someone who understands.

Benji makes me want to be a better person.

“But you’re like sisters. And sisters forgive each other,” Benji manages to say.

Because he’s got sisters. Maya tilts her head and asks, “Have you forgiven Ana?”

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“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because people make mistakes, Maya.”

So, as you can see, Benji has my whole heart.

Teemu and Vidar Rinnius were both endearing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I was TERRIFIED of Teemu especially since he was the leader of the Pack. However, I loved how both brothers looked after Ramona and were so loyal. I loved how they made her do crossword puzzles because they were scared she was going to get Alzheimer’s. Teemu telling Alicia’s parents they couldn’t beat the girl up made me so insanely proud of him. And then him choosing not to beat up Benji but taking him out to beer? That melted my heart alright. As for Vidar, I so wanted him and Ana to have a happy ending. I had a feeling he was going to die but I was really hoping my intuition would prove me wrong and it would be William Lyt because, and I know this is a terrible thing to say, I would have much preferred Lyt to die than Vidar. Ideally, no one would have been harmed.

The friendship between Maya and Ana was wholesome as ever though sixteen is a tough age to be, when paths often diverge. They didn’t share as much as they used to with each other and that was a little disheartening but I appreciated Backman keeping things realistic. I really hope Maya doesn’t have too bad a time in music school. I know she becomes a famous musician and I just hope the road isn’t too rocky. And I loved how Ana fuelled all her energy into martial arts. That made me so proud.

The camaraderie between all the characters made me want to be a part of a team. That’s the brilliant thing about sports: you feel like you belong. Bobo and Amat’s friendship was just as beautiful as its beginnings and I loved how Bobo became a more paternal figure for his younger siblings. I loved how well he took the fact that he’d never be a professional hockey player even though hockey was his life. He channelled that passion into coaching and that’s as good as it gets. We need more coaches like Bobo.

Kira and Peter’s relationship was a bit frightening because they were such relationship goals in the first book. I didn’t want them to have conflicts and it seemed like that was all they were having in this book. It was nice to see Maya inspire Kira to FINALLY start her own firm and then Peter coming in at the end was just PERFECT. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending!!!

Gah, this book just does things to you!

Writing Style

I have nothing new to say about Backman’s writing and nothing to complain about. The inclusive narration (“We’re a small community”) was initially a little jarring but I got used to that pretty quickly. It felt like Beartown itself was speaking to me and I thought that was rather magical.

I can’t believe that as of now, I have read all of Fredrik Backman’s books and I need MORE. I want the third book to be translated ASAP because I know that I’ll be staring with vacant eyes at everything in my immediate vicinity, trying to fill this bear-shaped hole in my heart, until I can get my hands on the third book. Ah, Beartown. We‘ll stand tall if you stand tall!

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