Us Against You Book Club Questions & Discussion Guide

About this book

Picking up with Beartown still reeling, this second novel in the trilogy finds the town's beloved hockey club on the brink and a bitter rivalry with the neighboring town of Hed heating up. As politics, money, and old loyalties collide, the pull of belonging hardens into something dangerous. It is a sweeping, tender, and often heartbreaking story about how far people will go for the place and the people they call their own.

Discussion questions

1. Us Against You picks up with Beartown reeling and its hockey club on the brink. Coming off the first book, what did you most want to see happen to this town, and did the novel go where you expected?
2. This is a big cast in the middle of a rivalry that keeps escalating. If it took a while to get going, whose thread pulled you back in?
3. Several characters are pushed to new limits here, including the arrival of a new coach who does things her own way. Whose journey moved you most this time, and why?
4. The rivalry between Beartown and Hed hardens into something dangerous. Where did you land on how loyalty and belonging can tip over into tribalism and violence?
5. The book is about the stories a community tells to define who is "us" and who is "them." What did it ultimately say about the pull of belonging, and its costs?
6. Backman again tells us grief is coming before it lands. How did living with that dread shape the way you read, and did it make the hardest moments hit harder?
7. Politics, money, and a fight over the club's survival drive much of the story. How did those forces raise the stakes beyond the ice?
8. Did this remind you of another story about rivalry curdling into something darker, or about a community at war with itself, in fiction or in life?
9. The book is honest about how love and loyalty can make people do both their best and their worst. Did that ring true for anyone at the table?
10. Who would you hand this to next, the reader already invested in Beartown or someone who loves a sweeping community saga, and who should approach it with care?

Themes to listen for

• Belonging and the pull of us against them
• How loyalty can tip into tribalism and violence
• Grief and love in a divided community
• Identity and the courage to be yourself
• The politics and survival of a town

If your club liked this, try…

• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• The Winners by Fredrik Backman
• The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
• Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger

Where to get it

• Check availability at your local library
• Find it on Bookshop.org
• Listen on Libro.fm

Practical notes

Best for clubs continuing the Beartown story. Read Beartown first. Second in the trilogy.

Content notes: Violence, loss, and mature themes; approach with care.