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A review by mollyzor
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
4.0
3.75 stars but I'm feeling generous today.
I continue to love Backman and his prose. Oh how I wish I could read it in it's original Swedish. I bet his books all sound lovely and poetic. He is one of the few authors who can write in present tense and not send me up a wall...usually it doesn't work, but for Backman it does.
Welcome back to Beartown - a town with triumphs and flaws. We are back a few weeks after the completion of the first book and everyone is kind of living with the fallout from their choices in the previous book. Though, beautiful, I thought this book got bogged down a bit in the details, especially the political stuff and the foreshadowing. It was just too much for me. And then when the foreshadowed event came to pass I found it slightly anti-climatic. Sad, but not shocking.
Despite these qualms, I still love Backman and Beartown.
Recommend for people who need a good cry, love pretty prose, or want a book about deeply flawed individuals.
I continue to love Backman and his prose. Oh how I wish I could read it in it's original Swedish. I bet his books all sound lovely and poetic. He is one of the few authors who can write in present tense and not send me up a wall...usually it doesn't work, but for Backman it does.
Welcome back to Beartown - a town with triumphs and flaws. We are back a few weeks after the completion of the first book and everyone is kind of living with the fallout from their choices in the previous book. Though, beautiful, I thought this book got bogged down a bit in the details, especially the political stuff and the foreshadowing. It was just too much for me. And then when the foreshadowed event came to pass I found it slightly anti-climatic. Sad, but not shocking.
Spoiler
I think this is in large part because Vidar wasn't really a main character. We knew his brother loved him. We knew he was a good goalie. And we were just starting to get bits and pieces of his and Anna's love story. But he doesn't make an appearance until well into the second half of the book. We only have a few back stories. I just didn't understand him like I understood Benji, Maya, Peter, or even Tema. So when he died it was sad, but I was not yet fully invested in the character. So much of the first half was about Leo and then he kind of drops off to make way for Vidar. I think Vidar should have been introduced sooner.Despite these qualms, I still love Backman and Beartown.
Recommend for people who need a good cry, love pretty prose, or want a book about deeply flawed individuals.