I love everything about this book and probably loved it as much as Backman’s other series Beartown. This book alternates because a story of 4 childhood friends and their lives as adults. Backman’s writing style is one that I enjoy probably more than almost any other author. This story touched my heart and will stay with me for a long time. He addresses themes of friendship, loss, grief, and abuse with such expertise and so masterfully.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have been a fan of @backmansk for years and have read (and own) every book he’s written. So I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book and have had the special edition ordered since it was announced. I was over the moon to get the chance to read the e-ARC early!

This book is quintessential Backman. It’s a slow-paced story that unfolds bit by bit on two timelines with plenty of memorable quotes along the way.

Louisa is my favorite character. Her unbreakable spirit shone through despite her terrible circumstances. She made me laugh despite her belief that anyone over thirty was ancient! As she learns the story behind her favorite painting she learns more about herself and what she’s capable of.

Ted, who accompanies her and tells her the story was funny, too. I loved watching him overcome his fear and learn to open his heart.

And of course the story of the teenage artist and his friends was poignant and hilarious at the same time. Told in bits and pieces with lots of foreshadowing and misdirection, the story is all the more touching because it is revealed so slowly.

At the end of this review I’ve included some of my favorite quotes.

I am happy to have my special edition for my shelf, but I think I want to purchase the audio as well and read this one again. It’s going to take multiple readings to digest.

Pick this one up today and fall in love again or for the first time with Backman’s masterful writing.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @atriabooks for the chance to review this ARC.

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“Imagination is the only thing that stops us from thinking about death every second. And when we aren’t thinking? Oh, those are all our very best moments, when we’re wasting our lives. It’s an act of magnificent rebellion to do meaningless things, to waste time, to swim and drink soda and sleep late. To be silly and frivolous, to laugh at stupid little jokes and tell stupid little stories.”

“That’s all of life. All we can hope for. You mustn’t think about the fact that it might end, because then you live like a coward, you never love too much or sing too loudly. You have to take it for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.”

“Life is long, his friend had said in the hospital, but he didn’t mention the fact that almost every moment hurts when you have to live it alone.”

“The ultimate expression of love is nagging, we don’t nag anyone the way we nag the people we love. All parents know that, and so do all best friends.’

“You think you’re going to be young forever, but suddenly you reach an age where getting up from a chair can’t be taken for granted, it requires planning,”

“It is an act of violence when an adult yells at a child, all adults know that deep down, because all adults were once little. Yet we still do it. Time after time, we fail at being human beings.”

“Children know hardly anything about their parents, even if they live with them their whole lives. Because all we know about them is as moms and dads, nothing about who they were before that. We never saw them young, when they still fantasized about all the things that could happen, instead of regretting all the things that never did.”

“There’s an author called Donna Tartt who describes why a person falls in love with art: ‘It’s a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes, you.’ That’s what libraries feel like for me.”

The genius of Fredrik Backman is very evident in this very poignant coming of age story. There are many quotable passages and many words of wisdom. Most of all this is a love story. It’s quiet, until you start getting into the story and then emotions erupt like a volcano and I was a mess by the end.

At the centre of the story is a piece of art. Not very exciting, but this painting is a metaphor for life and appreciating the beauty in it. This painting tells the story of four friends who don’t fit in, who are down on their luck and whose lives have been profoundly effected by lousy adults.

The painting offers these kids and especially Louisa, something they’ve never really had, a family, through the power of imagination. The painting acts as a vessel for them deal with grief and abandonment.

The writing is tender and there is lots of that trademark Backman humour. It does meander a little but, it is worth it. Its nostalgic and has you longing for those childhood summers from long ago.

Louisa, Christian, Joar, Ted and The Artist are the best. They are flawed, but they are smart, compassionate and hurting. They are everything. I’m just at a loss for words.

This is my most anticipated read of the year and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t thank Atria Books enough giving me an ARC.

"It's hard to say "I love you" when you're fourteen years old. And completely impossible to dare whisper: "Don't hurt yourself, because you'd be hurting me too.""

I've been putting off writing this review, because even though he's one of my favorite authors, even though I loved this book, I feel like I will never adequately get across how much his books mean to me, or how wonderful this story was, but I'll try.

If you've read a Fredrik Backman book, you'll know they're almost always sad. Almost always a guaranteed cry. But they're also so much more than that. They have moments of laughter and hope. They have characters that have you feeling like you've known them all your life, like they were your friends too, when you were fourteen. This is a story about a group of friends who grew up together and spent their summers at the pier, who loved each other so much, even when they couldn't love themselves.

"Because all he dreamed about was not being recognized in the street, and not being adult, and about lying on a pier with his best friends and drinking sun-warmed sodas and reading superhero comics. About being no one at all alongside his very best no ones."

I can't even read all the quotes I highlighted without tearing up again. While there is so much love in this book, there is so much grief and heartbreak, and really isn't that what life is? I've said it before, but I think what I love the most about his writing is when he writes about love, family, and friendship, it all feels so real. I can feel all those moments shared between those fictional characters in my own chest. I can feel for them and hope that they'll have their happy ending. Rooting for them, even though we might have an idea how the story will go, just like Louisa.

"So you never went back home?"
↳ "He was my home."

If you decide to read this book, pleaseee go in blind and just trust where the ride takes you. I don't think you need to know anything besides that, this book is about how a story never ends, not really anyways. That a home is not a place but the people, that you never have friends like you did, and you never love anyone like you do when you're fourteen. And how most of all, knowing you aren't alone, not really when you have your best humans with you always.

Lastly, thank you so much atria for this advanced readers copy. I cried when it showed up in the mail. You have no idea how much it meant to me. ♥

Backman has done it again. This book is pure perfection.

It resonated with me on such a deep level. Backman masterfully tells the story of four kids who found their “best” friends at exactly the moment they needed them most. The narrative moves effortlessly between the present and 25 years ago, weaving a rich, emotional tapestry that is both heartbreaking and hopeful.

As an avid Backman fan who has read everything he’s written, I can honestly say this book is something special. While the Beartown trilogy will always hold the top spot in my heart—and I genuinely believe those books should be required reading in high school—these characters are now a very close second.

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think of the Beartown characters. They felt so real to me that I sometimes catch myself wondering how they’re doing, before I remember they’re fictional. That’s the magic of Backman’s writing—his characters live on long after the final page.

This latest book might just be my favorite read of the year. I already have tickets to meet Backman in Nashville, and I can’t wait.

Bravo, Backman—thank you for yet another masterpiece.

Fredrik Backman’s writing is singular — he has a way of crafting a sentence into a feeling, something that can be both stunningly beautiful and absolutely devastating. In My Friends, he evokes raw, unending emotion while managing to balance grief and humor and heart. It is a gorgeous look at friendship and time, one that anyone would be lucky to experience.

I ADORED this book and found it just exquisite. It's been a while since I've read a book by Fredrik Backman and I missed his writing style. There's always a certain amount of whimsy and innocence to his stories. He manages to be humorous and then super serious. I'm laughing and then he'll write a sentence that just hits me right in the heart.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

This story of four friends is completely compelling. It's a story about love and art and life and relationships. There's a lot of love, a lot of laughter. And farts. LOL. Read it and you'll get it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. The novel will hit bookstores on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Do yourself the biggest favor and fast track this one to the top of your TBR.

This was a sweet read about friendship that had a better ending than I was expecting! I did feel a little underwhelmed, though as the thought of something really bad was constantly planted in our heads. But like all of Fredrick Backman’s books, he captivates your heart with quirky but lovable characters and found family.

As usual Fredrik Backman writes a book that makes me cry, laugh, and rage. I love his writing style. It always feels so unique. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story.

I....how do I even find the words to shape my feelings for this book.

I did not cry. I SOBBED. My Friends tore open my heart in every way it possible could, and in the most beautiful of ways, if desecration can ever be deemed beautiful. I felt EVERYTHING through this book. It made my heart ache and want and mourn and hope and love.

Backman's writing is like nothing I've ever read before. It's so human and raw, but in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Same with his characterization. His storytelling is magical and unparalleled. He FEELS while he writes, and you can tell.

I love love love Fredrik Backman’s writing.
He has this insane ability to create characters you feel like you can physically touch through the page. I don’t know how he does it.
My Friends is filled with gorgeous and multidimensional people, that you feel like you know, strangely within the first few chapters.
This story captivated me from the get go. How can a piece of art carry an entire novel? Read this book. It is the sweetest tale of friendship. Loved every second!
Thank you Netgalley and Atria books!

I absolutely adore Fredrik Backman and his talent for crafting a story with gorgeous prose — he has such a beautiful way with words that just pulls you in. My Friends is the latest book from him that touches on the unbreakable bond between friends and heavy themes like grief. I especially connected with all of the characters in this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for sending me an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

My Friends (Fredrik Backman, Simon & Schuster, 2025) is the newest release from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, following Louisa, a recent foster runaway, and Ted, a lonely man clinging to his beloved childhood memories, drawn together by a single painting that has changed both of their lives forever. Masterfully blending comedy and grief, Backman creates a coming of age story that spans generations.

Twenty-five years ago, the artist made a painting of his friends. Today that painting is priceless, and the artist has left Ted in charge of giving it to Louisa, who has just lost her best friend to an overdose. She has no idea what to do with herself, let alone a guaranteed fortune, so she joins Ted as he travels across Sweden back to his hometown where the painting was created. Along the way, Louisa learns the story of the people in the painting that she’s obsessed over all her life, and might just find her place in the world, too.

It may sound obvious, but My Friends examines the essence of friendship in all its many forms. From verbal harassment to acts beyond words, Backman someone puts to paper what one is willing to do for their humans. Nearly every three pages or so I found an anecdote worthy of highlighting, capturing a feeling or experience or thought that I have never been able to adequately articulate. The intimacies of friendship and grief are so thoroughly explored and so totally relatable; it’s quite difficult to not picture yourself as a part of the story.

This book captures every emotion under the sun, and bottles it up into sub 450 pages for the reader to somehow digest. I don’t know how someone could read this cover to cover without both laughing out loud and shedding some tears, without cringing from an awkward interaction and whooping in celebration when a scheme is pulled off, without worrying for the characters’ safety and beaming at their love for one another.

I was completely enthralled with the characters and events of both timelines explored in the book, and truly could not have asked for a better or happier ending to wrap everything up in. I thought I would finish My Friends feeling a kind of loss comparable to A Little Life, but instead I think I gained a whole lot of perspective that I think I will carry with me for a long time.

Dare I say I have a new favorite Backman novel to gush about to friends and customers alike? With witty characters you can’t help but fall in love with and root for, My Friends shows that it’s never too early or late for your life to begin or resume.

Fredrik Backman is a literary genius, and this book further proved that. I love the way ideas and phrases connect in all of Backman’s works, but his use of language here was so intentional, so well done, and so indicative of the impact this group of friends had on each other. This is another set of characters I don’t want to leave behind.

A story of friendship and grief told beautifully through unlikely companions Ted, the artist’s friend and Louisa, a young run away the artist paints with just before his death. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for an advanced copy for an honest review.

Fredrik Backman has a distinctive way of writing which is so engaging and unusual. My Friends is a lovely story of friendship and love and told in a nonlinear fashion of people telling stories to each other. And yet, it is cohesive and meaningful, with plenty of humor ( most of it involving farts, but, hey, farts are funny).

Louisa is an 18 year old orphan who recently lost her best friend. She is also an artist who has been tremendously impacted by the painting of an artist known as C. Jat. She finds a way to see the painting in person and ends up meeting Ted, a friend of the artist. Much of the novel is Ted sharing the story of the painting’s origin which leads to many stories of Ted and his friends. Ted is a character whose anxiety jumps off the pages and is also such a kind and gentle man. Backman excels at character development and storytelling and I hope he continues to gift us with his words for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
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My Friends tells the story of Louisa, an artist and teenager aging out of foster care, who is fascinated with a painting, and the artist of the painting and his friends. The story jumps between timelines. In the present timeline, Louisa mainly spends time with Ted, one of the artist's friends. In the past, Backman tells us about the summer the painting was completed.

Reading Backman is a rollercoaster for me - some of his books are absolute favorites and others end up being not working well for me. I was bummed that My Friends fell a bit more in the latter. The book has Backman's signature writing style. For me, My Friends felt a bit too chock-full of aphorisms and wacky characters dealing with horrible situations.

Book Review My Friends by Fredrick Backman
Publication Date: May 6, 2025

The literary equivalent of Stand By Me, this book journeys through the life of four young friends during one transformative summer. The narrative shifts between the characters present day adult lives and their memories of that unforgettable summer. They share a deep bond forged in the intensity of childhood, a connection with those who truly see you, “your humans”. With beautifully painful prose, quirky characters and dialogue, and rich emotional hills and valleys, Backman crafts a story full of surprises. He gently leads you down a path where pain seems inevitable, only to pivot at the last moment, leaving you both surprised and grateful.

Jory, Ali, Ted and the Artist are vibrant, complex teenagers grappling with painful family dynamics and emotions too large and overwhelming to manage alone. Yet, together, they create a space of safety, security, understanding and love. The writing vividly captures the intensity and importance of their connection, and the loss experienced when they have to leave each other.

This is a story of found family: the immediate recognition of a kindred spirit and the deep sense of home that comes with it. It explores the fierce loyalty of friendship, the promises we keep, and the lengths we’ll go to protect the people we love.

The story delves into the darker sides of growing up - how easily a childhood can be stolen, how quickly self esteem can be crushed, and how being different is punished. But amid the pain, there is hope. Friends can have hope and believe in you, when you have no hope for belief in yourself. They can dream for you, when you are too fragile to consider the possibilities of dreams.

This is another masterpiece from Backman, poignant, touching, funny and full of heart. He has a magical ability to immerse you in the lives of his characters so that you feel deeply connected as if you are a part of their messy, flawed, and beautiful friendship. This book will resonate with longtime fans and is sure to make new ones.

Thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for the chance to preview this book and provide my honest opinion.

Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors (I will never shut up about Beartown), so I went into My Friends with high expectations—and, honestly, some early doubts. The first half felt slow, and I wasn’t sure where it was going.

But Backman does what he always does: he sneaks up on you. By the end, I cared deeply about Louisa, Ted, Joar, Ali, and the artist—characters I didn’t even realize had carved out space in my heart until it was time to let them go.

It’s a quieter book, maybe a little too long, but still full of that signature tenderness, emotional truth, and quietly stunning dialogue that Backman does best. Not my favorite of his—but still a story that moved me.

A must for Backman fans. 💙

A longer review can be found on my Substack at lifewithkat.substack.com.

The greatest treasure in life is a true friend. As humans, we crave connection, but friendships? They are the bonds that shape us, build us, break us, and help us find our way back to ourselves. Especially in our teenage years, friendships feel like lifelines. Some stay with us forever; others turn into memories we bury deep. But the ones that last? They become family. Soulmates. An essential part of who we are.

Teenage friendships are complex. Teenagers themselves are chaos and vulnerability in motion—often misunderstood by the adult world. Fredrik Backman’s My Friends reframed how I see them. It reminded me of what it felt like to be one: confused, emotional, desperate to be seen and loved without judgment. Teenagers don’t need advice or correction—they need presence. A friend who stays. Who sees them without looking away.

My Friends was my first full-length Backman novel, and it found a permanent home in my heart. I’ve read his shorter works before, but this? This was something else. It stirred up a bittersweet nostalgia—of the friends who lit up my darkest days, who laughed and cried beside me. The friendship between Joar, Ali, Teddy, and KimKim is the heartbeat of this story: loud, unwavering, and beautifully raw. They're not just friends; they’re the missing pieces of each other’s souls.

Backman’s writing is like a punch and a balm. His prose feels like coming home. He captures life with such clarity and emotional precision that it’s impossible not to be moved. His characters are painfully real—flawed, kind, scared, brave. They carry their trauma like battle scars, and yet, they remain full of love and hope.

The narrative shifts between the present and a summer 25 years ago, but it flows so seamlessly. The layered perspectives only enrich the story, making the mystery around the past all the more gripping. I feared where the story might go—so many possible tragic turns—but Backman stayed true to each character’s journey. He gave them all the dignity they deserved.

Joar, with his fierce loyalty and protective heart, never failed to make me ache. Ali, gentle and grounding. Teddy, the quiet rock who offered safety. KimKim, unknowingly the reason they kept going. Their love for one another was profound and selfless. They didn’t just exist together—they lived for one another. Every moment, from sweaty beach days to chaotic laughter, felt real. Sacred. Alive.

And then there’s Louisa—loud, passionate, misunderstood. A rebel with a soft heart, painted in bruises and longing. Her bond with Fish, her grief, her discovery of Teddy and art, her loud defiance and vulnerability—she stole my heart. Her journey is one of healing, and she embodies the hope that even the most broken parts of us can still bloom.

This book haunted me in the best way. I read it slowly, savoring every word, every ache, every burst of love. I kept pausing just to breathe, to process, to hold space for these unforgettable characters. This story is a love letter to friendship, to survival, to the art that connects us when words fail. It’s about found families, soul-deep bonds, and the kind of love that doesn’t ask to be noticed—it simply is.

To Joar, Ali, Teddy, KimKim, and Louisa: you are forever etched into my heart.