Many thanks to Atria and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of love, friendship, found family, and a touch of mystery, My Friends is one of those books that sticks with you long after the last page. It just might be my new favorite Backman.
Set in a blue-collar town where dreams rarely come true, we follow four childhood friends—Ted, Ali, Joar, and the one known only as The Artist. Forming a deep connection over their neglectful home lives, their world shifts one summer when Joar pushes The Artist to enter an amateur art competition that changes everything.

Fast forward twenty years, and we meet Louisa—a smart, streetwise girl raised in foster care, now on the run after trying to vandalize The Artist’s most iconic piece, a piece that has actually been meaningful to her for just about her entire life. When she literally collides with The Artist in the midst of fleeing, it sparks a chain of events that will alter her life, as well as Ted’s, and leave a lasting impression long after The Artist is gone.

🎨 This one had a slow start for me, but by the end, I couldn’t put it down. I found myself completely pulled into these characters’ lives—their relationships were so beautifully woven, it almost felt like I was part of their circle.

🎨 The dual timelines added a layer of mystery that kept me on my toes, and I loved how each thread came full circle by the end. Backman didn’t shy away from the tough stuff, which gave this an authentic coming of age feel.

🎨 The beauty of this book was in its simplicity. Backman told a heartfelt story full of life’s highs and lows with so much empathy and care. I loved the dynamic between the four friends, and Ted and Louisa’s relationship had me laughing out loud more than once. This one gave me ALL the feels!

Fredrik Backman is a master of writing about adolescent friendships. My Friends begins with a famous painting, a foster child and an artist's friend. Louisa, on the cusp of 18, is trying to avoid another foster placement. She sees more than most people when she looks at a famous painting.  To some, it may just be an image of three teens bonding on a pier but Louisa knows there is more to the story about a reclusive artist and that group of friends. 

This was a beautiful story of friendship, resiliency and life imitating art.  For the first half of the book, it seemed like Backman was writing his farewell novel due to the similarities between The Artist and him.

THIS BOOK!! I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I texted so many friends who were also reading, or about to read, this novel - I didn't want it to end and I felt like I was with these characters on every page. Fredrik Backman continues to be one of the greatest writers of our time. Absolutely beautiful, thoughtful, heartbreaking and heartwarming - all at the same time. Don't miss this one!!

4 - 4.25 stars

This was my first Frederik Backman book and it took me a bit to get a feel for the pacing of the book. I enjoyed the full circle story with all of the cast of characters we meet along the way. I found the middle to be a little slow when it seemed like one bad thing after another (I was distraught about the ashes for so long until the end). But, I overall really enjoyed the stories (dual timeline and all of the smaller stories within). I also appreciated all of the messages about art and its beauty.

I will definitely be reading another book by Frederik Backman.

I am not sure how to describe this. Louisa is a teenager about to age out of foster care who sneaks into an art exhibit to see in person the painting that has gotten her through a very difficult life. After a chance encounter with the artist, she ends up on a journey with one of his childhood friends because of the painting, and the friend, Ted, tells the story of how it came to be. This was a bit of a melancholy story early on, with the feeling of heavy, sad things to come, but by the end, it was terrific and lovely. This is my favorite book of the year so far. 5 stars.

Told in typical Backman style, heartbreaking yet hopeful. It took me longer than I wanted to read this because I was struggling with my mental health but I did really enjoy it.

My Friends felt disappointing and unlike the compelling stories I expected from Fredrik Backman. The plot dragged in places, and I struggled to connect with the characters on a deeper level. It seemed repetitive and lacked the emotional impact that his other books usually deliver. Overall, it didn’t live up to the promise and left me feeling underwhelmed.

4.5 ugly cried reading this heartbreaking and gorgeo4.5 ugly cried reading this heartbreaking and gorgeously written one of my favorite from Backman so far

My Friends is an endearing examination of friendship which concentrates on a painting by a soon to be world-wide and famous painter among the group. Looking at the relationships among the four teenage friends and also the rather brutal home life of several of them, family and character development grow in importance. There is hope, grief, trauma, and loss as well as humor and kindness in relationships.

When the artist, toward the end of his brief life, determines to leave his famous, brilliant, and infinitely valuable painting to 18-year-old Louisa, it thrusts her into a growing and affectionate relationship with Ted, her elder by about 20 years. Through Ted, Louisa hears many stories that encapsulate the nature of the interactions among the "friends" and their hi jinks over the years.

My Friends moved a bit slowly at times, and the frequent mention of crepitations occasionally grows a bit tiresome. There is also quite bit of parental violence but at the same time, a lot of parental affection. The interweaving of the sometimes complex plot and the strength of the sometimes astonishing friendships is compelling and moving. The book is long but at the same time its strength is the power of relationships that never ebbs.

Thanks to Atria Books and Net Gallery for the opportunity to read this book.

Whether you are new to Backman or a returning reader, this book is a wonderful treat. I have read a few other stories by him, and I have enjoyed them all. I believe this one is one of the better ones.

I consumed this one quick. I love the way I feel like I’m in the scenes he is writing. I love the cast of characters. Ugh the relationships and the conflicts and just everything!!! There were many tears to be had, especially in the last quarter.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a heartfelt exploration of friendship, art, and the enduring impact of human connections. The narrative unfolds across two timelines: in the present, Louisa, a grieving teenager and aspiring artist, becomes captivated by a mysterious painting featuring three tiny figures at the end of a pier. Determined to uncover their story, she embarks on a journey that intertwines with the past lives of four teenagers whose bond transcends time and circumstance.

Backman's storytelling shines as he delves into themes of loyalty, loss, and the transformative power of chosen family. The novel's dual-timeline structure enriches the narrative, offering readers a poignant reflection on how the relationships we form can ripple through time, affecting lives in unexpected ways.

"My Friends" is yet another heartfelt triumph from Fredrik Backman. With his signature blend of humor, tenderness, and emotional depth, Backman paints a beautiful portrait of friendship, grief, and what it means to truly show up for the people we love. The characters are vivid and painfully human, and the story lingers long after the final page. Honest, moving, and quietly powerful—this is Backman at his best.

This was book was just beautiful. It was a bit of a slow burn but I enjoyed every moment of it. I found myself reading certain passages and pausing to take a deep sigh to process the emotions. The author writes with a poetic flair that no one should rush through this book. I enjoyed how the characters were delicately developed with anticipation through Ted ands Louisa’s storytelling of their friendship while their own friendship was building.

I always enjoy reading Fredrik Backman books. This story had all the feels. At times I was crying, other times laughing, and always reflecting. The characters develop nicely as the story unfolds. It a story of love, loss, friendship and everything in between. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. 5 stars for me!

Best book I have read this year.

Every character has a story to tell. The stories are weaved together through friendship and art.

I ended up listening to this book and it felt like I couldn’t stop smiling. The friendship was written with such beauty and clarity and it made me feel everything as sharply as if I were there.

I haven’t read a novel that’s made me cry this much in a while. It also made me laugh. It made me angry. It made me contemplative. Most of all, this book just made me feel grounded because it’s one of those books that demands you slow down, take stock of your life, and be grateful for the good it’s given you and find meaning in the bad it’s brought you.

Of course, this is the kind of book that I’m a sucker for anyways as it explores the special, intense kind of love and closeness in teenage friendships, the withering effect of time, and the devastation of grief. But what makes this book stand out is how beautifully it was written. I actually wanted to write down some of my favorite quotes, and I had to stop because I was basically going to have to quote the whole book.

Fredrik Backman has such a talent for writing complex emotions and conveying how meaningful they are to these characters that I just get sucked in and the story becomes real. Every time I picked up the book, it felt like I was checking in with friends. And every time I thought of the book, it felt like I was wondering how those friends were doing.

I was so impressed with how he was able to write about teens in a way that captured the angst, mental health struggles, and traumas without it being overbearing or like a caricature. Then, he does it again for the adults going through grief. And then, he weaves the stories together in such a fluid way that it felt like I was listening to someone naturally reminiscing because we were having a conversation that brought up memories. It all felt so balanced and seamless that I didn’t notice how well it was done until now as I write this review.

I think this is one of his more meandering, saccharine books, but I picked it up at a time when I really needed it, so to me it’s perfect.

I’ll end this review with a few quotes that really exemplify the clumsy tenderness, desolation, hope, and utter humanness that fills this book:

“The first person to stop laughing was obviously the artist, his joy never lasted very long, his skin was too thin to keep reality out.”

“A soft little exhalation through the stubble of his beard, one final little beat of his heart, and then the world is smaller.”

“The artist’s bookcases were full of poets, like the bookcases of anyone trying to find out how everyone else copes.”

“The chance to feel that he had stolen more moments from death than death had from him.”

“Sometimes you don’t appreciate your own blessings until you see the envy in someone else’s eyes.”

“Because art is a fragile magic, just like love, and humanity’s only defense against death. That we create and paint and dance and fall in love, that’s our rebellion against eternity. Everything beautiful is a shield.”

“The most dangerous place on Earth is inside us.”

And that whole paragraph when Ted describes why he couldn’t live in the artist’s apartment anymore.

And those two pages when the artist describes why we in fact should take life for granted because it’s only when we’re not thinking about death that we can live fully and create magic and show the world our true selves.

It's been awhile since I've read one of Fredrik Backman's book, but this. book was fantastic! It might have been the best one I have read yet. It had plenty of emotions while surprising me at the same time! The storytelling is phenomenal!! Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Backman does it yet again with another compelling masterpiece of a book. I can't think of a better author to take the mental spaghetti we all deal with, put it on a page successfully, and make me want to untangle it. Who does that!? Deciding to read this book was the easy part - automatic yes - but deciding to go to bed each night was the hard part, when reading this was my other option. Heartfelt, earnest, and broken...in compulsively readable ways.

While I enjoyed this book, I didn’t feel the urge to pick it up each time. This book took me nearly 2 months to read. I enjoyed the writing but was not as engaged by the story.