madelinedalton 's review for:

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
3.75
dark emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A bit of a disappointment after Beartown absolutely knocked my socks off, but I’m glad I got to spend more time in the Beartown universe with these characters. 

I was expecting to explore more of David, William, and Kevin’s motives now that they’ve switched over to Hed. After the first book, I wanted to further explore the theme of how people can rationalize their defense of a rapist. I try not to let my expectations influence my ratings of a book, but I do think that would have been more interesting than kicking Kevin out of town, barely touching on David, and introducing a brand new political plot line. 

I also felt as though Maya and Ana’s reconciliation was rushed. What Ana did was BAD, dude. If I were Maya, it would have taken me a much longer time to trust Ana again.


That said, I thought the Benji plot line was really nicely done and also really enjoyed the exploration of Kira and Peter’s marriage. Amat and Bobo slay as always. 

I won’t be reading The Winners because I feel that Us Against You gave me the closure I needed. However, my one lingering question is: who is Kira’s colleague? There has got to be a juicy reason she went unnamed the entire time. Plus, Fredrik Backman LOVES to withhold pronouns and names as a way to build suspense, as evidenced by Anxious People and
the reveal that Zackell is a woman.