First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

The residents of Beartown are tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. They’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team, especially when they are victorious over their longtime rivals in the neighboring town of Hed. But just when it seems that Beartown Ice Hockey might be disbanded due to the defection of their best players to Hed, the team gets a surprising new coach – and a chance at a comeback. Bringing the team together, however, proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the bitterness between the adversaries threatens to turn into violence.

With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.

Happy Tuesday everyone! I know, this is supposed to be a First Impression Friday update. However, the last few days have been hectic as I was on vacation. Last Friday, I was able to successfully summit Mt. Fuji, the highest point in Japan. It was a memorable climb to say the least even though I was not a fan of the gravelly path. The view at the top more than made up for it. I was able to create new memories with the fellow climbers I met along the trail. This also means that I am two-thirds done with the daunting Asian trilogy; I climbed Taiwan’s Yushan back in January. I only have to climb Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu to complete the trilogy. I am looking forward to climbing Mount Kinabalu and I am hoping I get to do it before the year ends, if not by early next year.

Anyway, today is the 30th of July which means that we will be greeting the eight month of the year in a day. Woah. I can’t believe that my birth month is nearly over. On to the so-called ghost month. I hope that everyone has had a great year so far. I hope that the remainder of the year will be a great one. Reading-wise, July has been an extension of my foray into the works of European literature; I commenced this reading journey back in May. Toward the end of June, I realized I still have a lot of books from this part of the literary world that I wanted to read. I also have some books from my reading challenges I needed to read. I am already in the process of wrapping up this reading journey although I just might extend it for a few days in August because I want to complete Fredrik Backman’s Beartown trilogy.

Actually, my current read is the second book in the trilogy, Us Against You, the book featured in this late First Impression Friday update. Us Against You is also the fifth novel by the Swedish writer I read, making Backman the first Swedish writer who I read at least five novels of. Who’d have thought that I would end up reading five novels by a writer who I was initially ambivalent about; I had reservations about reading A Man Called Ove but once I got over these apprehensions, I ended up loving the book, hence, my fifth novel by Backman. Without preamble, Us Against You picks up from where Beartown left. The heart of the novel is a Swedish countryside village on the verge of collapse. It once paraded with pride its Ice Hockey team. I guess this is a timely read because of the ongoing Summer Olympic Games.

Following years of futility, Beartown’s fortune was about to get a drastic reversal when the junior team trailblazed into the semifinals of the national competition. The team was led by ice hockey prodigy Kevin Erdahl. The townspeople were ecstatic, understandably so. Their hopes, however, was pulled down the drain following a scandal involving Kevin and Maya, the daughter of the ice hockey team’s manager and former ice hockey prodigy Peter Andersson. The scandal not only upset the harmony in the village but it exposed the fault lines hiding underneath the façade. It was this facet of the story that made Beartown a very engaging team. In its sequel, we read about a demoralized village. The Erdahls were quick to retreat from the town. David, the junior ice hockey coach, moved to the town of Hed, bringing along with him the best of Beartown’s junior team.

Meanwhile, in Beartown, the atmosphere was bleak. The Andersson’s lives were starting to unravel. Peter and his wife Kira were slowly drifting apart, something their children noticed but was mum about. Maya was still recovering from the trauma. Leo, her brother, wanted to avenge what happened to his sister. Benji, Kevin’s bestfriend but who stood up for Maya, was once again on the path to destruction. Amat, the small but talented ice hockey player, hold on to the hope of playing on the ice skating rink and perhaps one day lift his family up to the higher rungs of society. Everyone was in dire need of saving. It was at this critical juncture that Richard Theo entered the scene.

Theo is a bureaucrat, a traditional politician who wanted to scale the political ladder to gain more influence. He was masterfully orchestrating everything from his seat in the lower sections of the townhall. Out of the blue, Elizabeth Zackell appeared and presented herself to be the next coach of the senior ice hockey team. She was driven by the desire to win; this is a mantra carried over from the first book. She was supposed to be a breath of fresh air because she was a woman trying to take over a sport driven by testosterone. Will she succeed in gaining the men’s confidence? Everyone was apprehensive, some even muttering derogatory terms. But she was nonplussed. She managed to recruit Benji, Amat, and Bobo – another carry over from the old Beartown junior ice hockey team. She also set her eyes on Vidar Rinnius, a once-talented goalie who was born to be a troublemaker.

The novel, like its predecessor, takes time to build up. Backman is preoccupied with laying out the pieces but in doing so, he also manages to paint a vivid portrait of the character’s psychological profiles. Several interesting elements were added to compliment the novel. Politics, for instance, was prominently and extensively referenced in the novel, particularly by the omniscient narrator. Backman underlined how politics is inherent in our lives. As the adage goes, everything is political and for sure, Us Against You does not relent in reminding the readers this. Apart from politics and how it encroaches every strata of society, the novel probes into the intricacies of family dynamics; this is a subject also examined in Beartown.

For now, I am looking forward to how the new senior ice hockey team will come together while they grapple with various complex issues pertaining to sexuality, trauma, deeply ingrained misogyny, and family dynamics. Like its predecessor, Us Against You is shaping up to be a very engaging story. One of the things I noted is the prevalence of catalysts that set several events in the story into motion. The scandal captured in Beartown is one. Zackell and Theo are also catalysts in their own rights. I am nearly done with the book and tension is building up. This tension, I surmise, will drive the last book in the trilogy, The Winners.

How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!