Us Against You

Us Against You is a realistic fiction novel by Swedish author Fredrik Backman and was originally published in Sweden in 2017 by Bokförlaget Forum. In 2018, Washington Square Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) published Us Against You with a translation by Neil Smith. Backman is lauded for his depictions of small-town Swedish life and his ability to capture the many identities that even the smallest towns embody. Although his novels are about Sweden, they find a universal audience in their study of what makes societies function and fall apart, and what makes people need one another so passionately.

Plot Summary

Beartown is a hardworking community where the townspeople live for their hockey team. Their economy is suffering, and their town identity has recently been shaken by the rape of Maya Andersson, in which the town sided with Kevin Erdahl, the Beartown star hockey player who committed the crime. Now, Beartown is trying to heal, but the healing process will bring a rivalry between two towns—Beartown and Hed—and an accident that kills Vidar Rinnius, a Beartown hockey player who, despite his tough exterior, is kindhearted and falls in love with Maya’s best friend, Ana.

Peter Andersson, Maya’s father, is the General Manager of Beartown Ice Hockey Club. He learns that Beartown Ice Hockey will cease to exist, and the town council will be putting their money towards Hed, an affluent, neighboring town with a larger hockey team. Peter knows that the council members believe that winning games is the only option. The reason Peter fell out of favor with the town is because Peter informed the police that Kevin raped Maya, and Beartown lost the game as a result.

Eventually, the Beartown Ice Hockey Club has a chance of revival with the introduction of a new woman coach, Elisabeth Zackell, a world champion hockey player. She starts building the team and selects Kevin’s best friend, Benji Ovich, as one of the lead players. Benji is gay and has not revealed his sexuality to anyone. However, he is outed when Ana, in a fit of anger against Benji (who did not return Ana’s affections), takes pictures of Benji kissing the new male teacher at school and shares them online. Humiliated, Benji ventures into the forest to end his own life; however, when he comes face to face with a bear, Benji realizes that he wants to live.

Beartown loses the first game against Hed but puts up a good fight, and the community is inspired. For the remainder of the hockey season, both Beartown and Hed win the rest of their games against other teams. They will most likely face each other again, and the feud continues in a car chase between the two towns. Maya and her mother, Kira, are driving in the opposite direction and happen to pass the chase when one of the cars veers, causing Kira to launch her car out of the road and into a tree. She and Maya survive. A man also not associated with the car chase tries to move around the collision but is too fast and doesn’t see Ana run across the road. Vidar steps in front of the car, pushing Ana out of the way, and dies on impact.

Time passes and the people in Beartown do what they do best: muster up their courage and continue on despite the trauma of violence and death. Hockey remains as the town’s unifier, where people go to witness something simple, fair, and meaningful.