Sunday, September 22, 2019

Us Against You, by Fredrik Backman


Hockey Teams
Others
Peter Andersson – General Manager
Kira – wife, lawyer
Maya – raped by Kevin Erdahl
Leo – 12 years old

Benji Ovich
Mother
Sisters – Katia, Adri, and Gaby

Amat
Fatima – mother, cleans rink

Bobo
Ann-Katrin – mother, nurse, cancer
Hog – father
Two younger siblings

Vidar Rinnius – released early from facility to be goalie, Teemu’s younger brother, killed in accident

Sune – previous coach, sick

Elizabeth Zackel – head coach

Heb team:
David – coach
William Lyt

Peter’s best friends:
Tails – owns supermarket
Hog

Ana – Maya’s friend

Amat’s best friends:
Zacharias
Lifa

Councillors:
Richard Theo
Female politician – ax in hood of car
Spanish-home-owning politician

Ramona – owns Bearskin bar

Five uncles

The Pack:
Teemu Rinnius
Spider
Woody

Jeanette – teacher, martial arts teacher

Alicia – 4 ½ years old, future hockey player

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

  1. What did you think about the various characters in the novel?  Were they portrayed as good, bad, or a complicated mix?  Consider Richard Theo, the Pack, Peter, the female politician, and others.
  2. Elizabeth named Benji as team captain and told him, “…I’m giving you the thing you’re most terrified of: responsibility for other people” (page 193).  Following that, he and the team realize he has already become their leader.  Why did she pick Benji?
  3. Why did the people in both towns care so much that Benji was gay?
  4. David, coach of Hed team, felt that “…leadership is a matter of manipulating emotions to achieve results” (page 204).   Does this present a more negative view of leadership?   How effective were the various leaders in the novel?
  5. Did you understand how sports was portrayed in the novel?  For example, the author wrote, “It’s easy for children to love hockey, because you don’t have to think when you’re playing it.  Memory loss is one of the finest things sports can give us” (page 17).  Is this true of all sports?
  6. The other allure of sports that the author emphasized was that the team can become like a family, “(f)or anyone who needs an extra one or never had one in the first place” (page 332). And that “(s)ports carry the promise that we can have everything tonight.  Only sports can do that” (page 333).  Do you agree?  If you played a team sport did you experience this?
  7. Do you think the dynamics in the Andersson family was fair?  Peter and Kira decided to stay in Beartown to fight for the team, but was this fair to Maya and Leo?  Maya told Peter she did not want to move because, “this is my town, too” (page 58).  How did this decision affect Leo?  What about Kira sacrificing her career for Peter and the team?
  8. On page 63 the author wrote, “So if you want to understand their biggest stories, first you have to listen to the smaller ones.”   Do you agree?  What were the small stories in the novel that influenced the overall plot? 
  9. If you did not read Beartown, did you feel caught up with the story line and characters?
  10. There were many issues addressed in the novel including the following.  Were there too many?  How well did the author address each one?  Did you gain any new insights?
    1. Friendship
    2. Loyalty
    3. Family vs. career
    4. Social media
    5. Sexuality
    6. Treatment of rape victims
    7. Justice
    8. Mental health
    9. Crowd mentality
    10. Politicians – honest and dishonest
    11. Death

  1. Did you like the foreshadowing the author used?  Did it keep you interested in the story and wanting to see what happened?
  2. Besides the foreshadowing, did you enjoy the author’s writing?  For example, on page 292 he led the reader to think something different had happened than where the story went when he wrote, “There’s a long period of silence.  Then a single shot echoes between the trees.”  The writer led the reader to think Benji committed suicide but that is not what happened.
*****
First Semester Success, 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from amazon.com and hard copy from wordassociation.com.

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