I know everyone loves this author and I try I really do but h just have the hardest time getting into these stories! I loved a man called ove but the rest I struggle with.

My favorite book of 2025!!!
Look if you have read any of Backman’s work you are going to love this one. Had the pleasure to hear Mr Backman speak and I truly feel parts of himself in these characters

As usual, Backman has given readers a beautiful story, full of unique characters, good plot, friendship and empathy. Although there is trauma, there is also humour.

This book…First I would like to say I’m a massive Fredrik Backman fan. He has such a way of creating perfectly fallible, beautiful characters. Characters you feel like you know personally, fall in love with and want more for. Secondly, This book has been my favorite thus far, I laughed, I cried and I remembered that we are all human. Best book I’ve read all year and I’ve read close to 250. Masterpiece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was beautifully written and was so moving! I have been left speechless as I went into this book blind and was blown away. These characters were incredible and I felt so deeply for all of them and all the struggles they faced. This book contained so many moving and heartbreaking moments that really offered insight into life and growing up under difficult circumstances. I loved this book so much and can’t get over how much it made me feel.

Book 251 of 350 ~ 2025

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

@backmansk you have once again reminded me why you are one of my all-time favourite authors. Kudos to the translator as well for capturing the beauty of the story.

This gave me all the feels that I had to read it over a few days as I wanted to savour it like it's the best espresso martini ever.

I sipped, I savoured, and when I reached the end, I was filled with so much emotions for all the characters... but most importantly, that I savoured a masterpiece, and while I am sad that it is over, it will forever be a beautiful memory in my mind and heart.

Should you have friends or even a friend who is your ride or die, who believes in you when you feel your world is going to crumble or that you are but a speck of dust... if you have this person or people, I highly recommend you to reach out, hug them, tell them I love you (or in this story's case I trust you or for the audiobook I believe in you), and gift them a copy of this book.

It will be the best thing you can do to show how much that friendship means to you.

I received a complimentary copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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One of the best books I’ve read. Fredrik Backman writes the best characters. I will read anything he writes. Such a great story with amazing characters. I didn’t want to book to end.

Fredrik Blackman is the most beautiful story teller, I’m a forever fan. There are not enough words to describe how much I loved this book. Goodnight ghosts.

Fredrik Backman has become an auto-read author for me. I loved this story of friendship, overcoming challenges and hurdles, growing up, and moving on.

It's Backman. It's gut-wrenching, funny, beautiful. It's about a painting, grief, friendship, abuse, and hope. I loved it.

I started My Friends back in June, and I finally finished the novel in September. While I never take that long to read a story, I had to take breaks from reading it.

Overall, I had a very up-and-down relationship with My Friends. I found it equally impactful, but also exhausting. There were lines I wanted to save and savor, and yet, there were moments I was ready to speed up.

Despite all the key themes—found family, everlasting friendship, overcoming grief, and more—I didn’t feel a big connection to the story or the characters. In many ways, I was ready for the story to wrap up.

Maybe it was the timing, as I tried reading it during the summer months, but I wasn’t as enthused by this story as others. But there were still moments I very much enjoyed. So I have mixed feelings about this one.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a masterpiece that touched me deeply. Backman’s gift for creating characters who feel achingly real shines throughout, but it was Joar who resonated with me the most. His journey helped me reflect on my own childhood and look back with compassion I didn’t know I needed. The story is tender, raw, and beautifully written, filled with moments that stay in your heart long after finishing. This book is more than a novel—it’s an experience in empathy and grace. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read and review this unforgettable story.

Fredrik Backman has done it again. My Friends is a beautiful, heartfelt masterpiece that showcases everything readers love about his work — unforgettable characters, deeply human storytelling, and the kind of emotional depth that lingers long after the final page.
Backman’s gift has always been creating characters who feel real, flawed, and utterly lovable, and in My Friends, he takes this to a whole new level. The relationships between the characters are tender, complicated, and profoundly moving, reminding us just how vital friendship is in shaping who we are and helping us weather life’s storms.
Like all of Backman’s novels, this book is filled with moments of humor, heartbreak, and hope. It’s a story that will make you laugh, cry, and reflect on your own connections with the people you hold dear. My Friends isn’t just a book — it’s an experience, and proof that Fredrik Backman remains one of the most meaningful and talented storytellers of our time.

I am the lucky one 😭
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I am the lucky one to know these friends. What a gift Backman has given us. This book broke my heart in a million ways. And fixed it in a million more. The affection I have for these characters rivals the Beartown series. 💙
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The story is about art, but mostly it’s about friendship. How to show up for your people. How to care for them. How to say I love you when no one has ever said that to you. And it’s about growing up. And grief. And family.
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My precious baby Joar will always have a place in my heart. And his mama. And Ted and Louisa. And Ali and the artist. What a blessing. What a book. Well done, Mr. Backman! 👏
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Five stars, obviously 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Fredrik Backman does it again - a captivating, devastating, full of love story. The characters were all so lovable despite their actions and I couldn’t put this one down. This was a perfect balance of emotional and hilarious. Fredrik’s storytelling style is so addictive. He captures grief, abuse, friendship, and love with such a realistic but beautiful wording. The importance of art, the sea, friendships.. ugh my heart. The cat cracked me up, and the endless fart jokes were the perfect humor.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this book ends up winning multiple awards. It checks all the boxes.. I can’t wait for the next masterpiece from this author.
Also, go hug the people you love.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC!

Where do I even start with this incredible and special book? Every time I think back on these characters and this story I get so emotional, it would be silly to give it anything less than five perfect stars. I don't know many authors other than Fredrik Backman who can so perfectly capture the human condition and make you feel so much empathy for fictional characters and the human race as a whole.

This book follows two timelines, the present day when Louisa, a scrappy lonely homeless teenager meets Ted, a careful adult (up for debate), and the summer when Ted and his group of friends were all 14 and wild. The stories are filled with so much emotion and wonder, and they connect so tenderly and in such clever ways. I had to re-read some chapters because the way Backman would build the story and make it end in the most gut-punching way would have me reading through tears of joy, sadness, and sometimes, oftentimes, both. The characters of Louisa and Ted, and his young friends, are so well written and fleshed out they still feel like old friends months after I finished the book. The way Backman portrays how a close-knit group of school friends go from children to adults (some too quickly thanks to how life treats them) is so endearing, it made me feel wave after wave of nostalgia for both myself and a group of completely fictional people.

I truly loved taking my time reading this one - the writing itself is so beautiful, poetic and funny and heartbreaking, and so perfectly paced I sometimes just sat there at the end of a chapter wondering how someone can be so damn good at writing. And how wonderful that we get to experience it as readers.

This book will make you laugh, cry, and feel every emotion in between. Read it, maybe even read it again, and then call all your old friends to tell them you still think about them, hug your close ones, hug your pets, and be so grateful for your one wild and precious life.

I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have received an advanced copy of My Friends from the author and Atria Books! 🫶

"I'm not your reason, no one is your reason, your art is your own."

My Friends is truly such an incredibly beautiful and moving story! 🥹💕 These characters all truly have my heart and I love them with every ounce of my being! 🫶

My Friends did have a slower start than previous books for Fredrik Backman but it was absolutely worth the wait. This story was nothing like I was expecting but it does show the true value of friendship and that was beautiful beyond words. I loved Louisa so much and her and Ted's connection is truly magical and perfect! 💕 The writing style and storyline is incredible and this book is so worth the read so be sure to check it out! 🫶

Another beautiful piece from Fredrik Backman. His writing moves me beyond belief. I enjoy everything from him

My Friends unfolds around a mysterious, beautiful painting—tiny figures perched on a pier—that draws Louisa, a grieving foster-kid-turned-artist, into a story spun decades earlier by four teenagers bound by trauma and fleeting joy. Backman alternates between their sun-scorched summer, full of laughter and shared secrets, and Louisa’s present as she follows the painting’s trail across the country, hoping it’ll light a spark in her dimmed life. With his signature blend of heart-wrenching empathy, witty warmth, and bittersweet reflection, Backman crafts a moving homage to friendship’s resilience—and how art can hold what words cannot. It’s tender, emotionally stirring, and quietly beautiful, though a few readers note the pace occasionally dips into padding.

What else is there to say about Frederik Backman's books. They're at once hilarious, thought-provoking, and nostalgically heartbreaking. I will always recommend a Backman book.