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A Beartown Novel
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Beartown returns with an unforgettable novel.
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.
Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too.
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don't expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they've always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it's a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.
Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you'll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the town's enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.
As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies. By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you.
Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/09/2026)
Haha, @Lynne_G , that's too funny. I've run into such things myself, and I find it a little irritating when two authors choose the same title. Case in point: My Friends, used by both Hisham Matar and Fredrik Backman. So far, I'm really enjoying The Trees (the one by Percival Everett) though!
-kim.kovacs
Overall, what did you think of The Violin Maker’s Secret? (No spoilers in this thread, please!)
I agree with kim.kovacs that the book was a bit predictable and far-fetched at times, and I agree with Roberta_Winchester that the ending pertaining to the violin was a stretch. I actually didn't get it. Having said this, I still really did enjoy the book, though it reminded me very much of Symph...
-Joyce_Montague
If you learn in advance that a book you're thinking of reading will likely make you cry, do you still pick it up or do you avoid it?
Fredrik Backman is a master of complex characters and heart wrenching plots. Good choice!
-Holly_Batsell
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/22/2026)
I started My Friends by Fredrik Backman.
-Diane_Jones
Did you read any translated books last year? If so, what was its title, and in what language was it originally written?
Discontent: A Novel by Beatriz Serrano. Spanish. About a young woman in Madrid who hates her job at an advertising company. Wickedly funny. My Friends by Fredrik Backman: Swedish We'll Prescribe You. Cat by Syou Ishida: Japanese. Quirky, charming book about a mysterious clinic that recommends cat...
-Vivian_H
What books, if any, did you receive this holiday season, and what books, if any, did you give to others?
I haven't read the Hisham Matar title, but it's very well-regarded so I feel I definitely should! The Fredrik Backman one was exceptional in my opinion. I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to hearing what you think of it.
-kim.kovacs
Have you read many of the books mentioned in the novel? Did you find titles you added to your “to be read” list?
Thank you for the list - I had no idea so many were mentioned. I have read several. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Lord of the Flies by Williams Golding Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Charlotte's Web by E B White D...
-Laura_S
The Forgotten Book Club Reading list
Here are the books listed in The Forgotten Book Club : One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey The Collected Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker The Bee Sting by Paul Murray Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift The...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (7/31/2025)
I finished two books today. First was My Friends by Fredrik Backman and it was great. Next was Beyond Summerland by Jenny Lecoat and it was good. I'm reading Hail Mary by Andy Weir and it's not an easy read as science fiction isn't my favorite genre. My husband would have loved this so I'm readin...
-Melinda_J
What are you reading this week? (6/19/025)
Carol_Ann_Robb I just finished listening to My Friends, and it's a brilliantly written work by Fredrik Backman. Hope you enjoy it!
-jillg
What are you reading this week? (6/12/2025)
I just finished "Before Dorothy" so I'm ready for the discussion. I'm more than halfway through "Sunflower House" by Adriana Allegri about the Nazi Lebensborn program and have Fredrik Backman's "My Friends" waiting in the wings.
-Carol_Ann_Robb
What are you reading this week? (5/29/2025)
Almost done with The Winter Soldier for a Monday book club. Next reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman one of my favorite authors. Also looking forward to being in the bookclub for The Ghostwriter today! A book I enjoyed.
-Paula_Walters
What are you reading this week? (5/22/2025)
Half way through Isabel Allende's My Name is Emilia Del Valle. Next will be reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman. So it is a very good week!
-Paula_Walters
What was your last 5-star read, and what made you choose it?
My last five-star read was https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/20961/my-friends My Friends by https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/2498/fredrik-backman Fredrik Backman . I'd heard a lot about Backman's books over the years (since ht...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (5/15/2025)
I should wrap up The Busybody Book Club today, and then it's on to my review book, My Friends (the one by Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove, not the one by Hisham Matar). After that it'll probably be The Ghostwriter. In audiobook format, I'm finishing up James (and totally loving it). N...
-kim.kovacs
Book Suggestions - Ones I LOVED
Carol, your suggestions are right on. Anything by William Kent Krueger but especially The River We Remember . My book club read The Boys in the Boat and it is my favorite of everything we have read. It really was about the boys in the boat and the history they lived through to get to the Olympics...
-Linda_O_donnell
What book(s) are you excited to read in 2025?
I Highly recommend Daughters of Shandong and I'm really excited that BookBrowse is planning to host a book club for it this year (it also won our 2024 Debut Book Award). Related to @kim.kovacs 's recent post I'm excited to read Playground at some point, and I saw Fredrik Backman is coming out wit...
-nick
"Starred Review. There is even more potential for book group discussion here as Backman explores violence, political maneuvering, communities, feminism, sexuality, criminality, the role of sports in society, and what makes us all tick." - Library Journal
"Darkness and grit exist alongside tenderness and levity, creating a blunt realism that brings the setting's small-town atmosphere to vivid life." - Publishers Weekly
"Backman plays the story for both cynicism and hope, and his skill makes both hard, but not impossible, to resist." - Kirkus
This information about Us Against You was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Henric Lindsten
Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, and Anxious People, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.
Link to Fredrik Backman's Website
Name Pronunciation
Fredrik Backman: Backman's name is pronounced broadly as it sounds, but his famous character Ove is more challenging, it rhymes with hoover
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