Us Against You
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.
Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too.
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Bearto...
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.
Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too.
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.
Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the town’s enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.
As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies. By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you.
【瑞典】弗雷德里克·巴克曼
2016、2017瑞典年度作家。成名作《一个叫欧维的男人》在全球创下了惊人的销量，已被翻译超过44种语言，同名电影更荣膺奥斯卡最佳外语片提名。之后推出的《外婆的道歉信》和《清单人生》也取得了巨大成功。“暖心三部曲”三部曲全球销量总和突破1300万册。
《熊镇》系列是巴克曼“暖心三部曲”之后创作生涯的一个里程碑。在这套作品中，他大胆地突破了自己擅长的叙事模式和视角，将描写对象从老人和小孩延展至小镇群像，借由一次意外事故之后人们的选择透彻地检视了人性的柔弱与坚强，直击人心最深处的伤痛和温柔。
【译者 郭腾坚】
瑞典斯德哥尔摩大学翻译所硕士，现居瑞典斯德哥尔摩。译作包括《戴上手套擦泪》三部曲、
《熊镇》系列和《流沙刑》。