This is book 2 in the Beartown series.
STORY SUMMARY
The small, forest community of Beartown houses hard-working folks who are tough. They never expect life to be easy or fair. But no matter how hard the times get, they have always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team, the Bears. But now...after some serious allegations (from book 1), the ice hockey team might soon be disbanded.
And the worse thing?
Almost all of the former team members have gone over to the town of Hed, their main rival, to play on the Hed Hockey team known as the Bulls.
The tension begins to mount in both towns. But a newcomer arrives and Beartown hockey gets a new coach! And she's a woman. But she's excellent at her job and the Bears have a chance to make a comeback.
Amat, the fastest player, is soon recruited to remain on the Bears team. He refused to go over to Hed, although he had the chance. And Benji, the lone wolf who is an intense teenager with 3 older sisters who are always there for him, is also a part of the Bears. Obedient and hard-working Bobo, whose mom is dying from cancer, is also on the team. Bobo is so eager to please. His dad always encourages him to go to practice even though Bobo also helps out with his younger siblings at home, helps with the housework and chores and helps his dad Hog in the workshop. They all of a sudden, also acquire Vidar....a trouble maker teen who has just been released from the juvenile detention center.
Bringing this team together is going to prove to be a challenge. Old bonds are broken nad new ones are formed...and the town's enmity with Hed just grows stronger and stronger.
As the big hockey game approaches, in the Autumn, both sides begin to pull some no-so-innocent pranks. Incidents between the two communities begin to pile up and their mutual hatred intensifies.
By the the time the last goal is scored, one of the residents 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 as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you." (taken from the cover jacket).
MY THOUGHTS
This is a strong book. It's a sad story but also one full of love, hope, forgiveness, strength, and perseverance. It almost makes me want to love the sport of hockey.
The author is most excellent at character development. He is good at getting the reader to really comprehend the feelings each character in the story is experiencing. This story will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you frustrated at the slurs that are shouted towards certain characters.
It's almost like a "coming of age" story for several of the main characters. We see a lot a teenage angst and drama but it's deep.....it's very powerful.
Some main themes in this book are: identity/the search for identity; love, betrayal, forgiveness, loyalty, sacrifice, alcoholism, death, bereavement, guilt, shame, homophobia, class-ism, belonging, community, friendship, young love, family, truth, lies.
I loved that we look at the Andersson family a little bit deeper than in book 1. It's an excellent look at how the family endures through all kinds of horrible pranks and very real crimes.
This book contains several quotes that jumped out at me and made me think:
"...people will always choose a simple lie over a complicated truth, because the lie has one unbeatable advantage: the truth always has to stick to what actually happened, whereas the lie just has to be easy to believe." (pg 14, Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, c. 2017)
"Our fantasy worlds always have consequences for other people's realities." (pg 273)
"An ordinary life is long if you live it together with someone else." (pg 395)
"How old do we have to be to be held accountable for our actions, even when the consequences end up being so infinitely worse than we imagine?" (pg 411)
The ending is exquisite.
There are a few editing errors but not many.
I'm looking forward to reading the last book in this trilogy titled The Winners.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older (there is some mature content but nothing a 14 yr old wouldn't be able to deal with).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
1 comment:
Sounds interesting. I really liked A Man Called Ove so I should read more by this author.
Post a Comment