Fredrik Backman is an amazing storyteller! I never thought another book of his could live up to A Man Called Ove, but he seems to hit it out of the park with every single one! This one is just as good, if not better, than his previous works. I cannot recommend this one enough!

I love Backman. He just has such a wonderful way of writing. It’s always deeply insightful and poignant, and perfectly captures the moment. The characters he creates have great nuance and they feel so real that I get very invested in their stories. And he crafts lines that fully stop me in my tracks when reading. This story has so much going on in it and I loved the rich world I got to explore while reading it.

The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because I didn’t like what happened as much as I think I would have liked what I thought was going to happen (confusing, I know, but I’m trying to avoid spoiling anything). Backman is usually rather rough on his readers and he was gentler this time, and apparently I’m a monster because I would have preferred he hadn’t been because I think the emotional impact would have been stronger. But it was still a lovely and moving story, and you should definitely check it out!

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for this ARC. My Friends is out tomorrow!

4.5/5

Fredrik Backman’s latest novel is one of my favourite books this year. It is a story of art, humanity, and finding joy and beauty in the most challenging situations. A chance meeting at an art auction between Louisa, a teenager running from a foster home, and a famous artist, leads to a connection that reveals the story behind his first painting. Twenty-five years earlier in a small port town, a group of friends navigate adversity brought on by poverty, mental and physical illnesses, and addiction. During this time that changed their lives forever, the artist painted a seascape that captured their vitality, loyalty and affection. This novel is a slow-paced and beautiful read with a strong sense of place and a nostalgic mood that invests the reader in the characters’ resiliency and love for one another. Highly recommend to those looking for a new book club read, and those seeking out a literary gem to enjoy for an immersive and uplifting experience. Thank you to Atria Books for providing this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC copy of My Friends. Fredrik Backman is an auto-read author for me so I held onto it a little longer not wanting his new book to be over and done so soon. Backman brings subtle humor and quick, enlightening advice throughout all his books and My Friends was certainly filled with his writing flare.

This book was enjoyable, but not my favorite by him. I enjoyed getting to know each character and they were developed well as individuals, but the book overall just didn't hit me the same as some of his previous books.

Publishing tomorrow so add it to your TBR!

Overall, 3.75 stars!

Thank you sooo much to Atria books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I've loved Fredrick Backman ever since Anxious People came out. His writting scratches a very specific itch in my brain.
I was soooooooo giddy when I got this ARC. And then I fell in a reading slump. I tried picking it up, and I read until 30% and my brain just couldn't.
When I was feeling better, I picked it back up an finished it in a day.
Perfection, as always.
Thank you for writing, Fredrik Backman, thank you.

5.0

I have only ever read one other Backman novel, Beartown, but was so excited when I received this #gifted copy from @netgalley and @simonandschuster. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it did not disappoint!

This is the story of four teenage friends whose bond is so deep and lifelong. This bond is so special that it totally changes a complete strangers life over twenty five years later. It is also a story about art, and one particular painting by one of the teenage boys. It's a painting about the sea, but so much more about the kids on the pier depicted in the corner of the picture. This part is overlooked most times by everyone. But Louisa, an artist too, discovers them and vows to find out the story behind them.

This is just one of those books that grabbed ahold of me right from the start and I knew I was reading something really special. The four kids, Joar, Ali, Ted and the Artist all come from somewhat troubled backgrounds and when they all come together they become a found family. Their relationship is so beautiful and moving. I found my self laughing out loud and then brought to tears more than once also. I love a book and writing that can pull strong emotions from you. I was so deeply invested in all of the characters and could not read fast enough. The whole way through you are just hoping for the best for them, but also knowing that life doesn't always have a happy ending. I was just so emotionally invested and deeply moved by his beautiful words. I will forever be a Backman fan and need to go back and read many more of his other works. His writing is brilliant and I can't recommend this one enough!.

Releases on May 6, be sure to get it on your list! I would give it 10 stars if I could! It will definitely be a top read of the year for me.

The language of teenagers is typically full of feelings without the understanding of those feelings.

My Friends is a translation of the language misunderstood.

Four fourteen-year-olds, by all definitions, kids on the fringe, live at home barely hanging by a thread, connect for one summer that changes the trajectory of their lives.

Readers immediately meet Louisa. Almost 18 years old, not lost, just gone from her current (and final) foster home, we meet her in an art museum as she desperately seeks to put her eyes on, in person, a painting that has given her an emotional refuge for years—a painting she has only seen in a postcard.

As she flees the museum, she runs into a stranger in the alley who will change her life.

Throughout the book, as Louisa’s life changes course, she will hear the story of the friends in the painting—the story of the four friends and the one summer that changed their lives.

Oh, my heart and emotions were wrecked by this book. This is a book for all the big feelers. Frederik Backman is an emotional genius, and My Friends gives language to all the sensitive kids who aren’t sure how to express all they feel.

More impressive than giving language to teenagers is that he also gives it to us as hurting adults. Life has been simultaneously long and short for these friends, filled with loss, hurt, and grief. But their lives were also filled with love, passion, art, and friendship- the type of friendships that become our tether to all that is good.

In proper Backman form, while this is a deeply affecting story, it's filled with wit and sarcasm in the way we expect from his characters. It’s painful and hopeful. The way life often really is. I will sing the praises of this book forever.

Love Backman's writing style. I thought Anxious People, Beartown and The Answer is No are all brilliant. I liked the style of this one too but I just couldn't really get into it. It felt long and a little slow.

Fredrik Backman will ALWAYS be an auto-read author for me, and this was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025.

In true Backman form, this was a gorgeous story about friendship, the human spirit, kindness, and so much more.

The synopsis gives you the gist of the story, but not an ounce of the feeling it will elicit. I fell in love with the artist and his group of friends, reveled in the good times and mourned with them in the bad. Each character was beautiful, layered, flawed, lovable and unlikeable, and everything in between.

I know Backman isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I personally know someone who will not read his books (I’m still aghast). So if you don’t love his unique form of writing, you may not like it. I happen to adore him and everything he writes, and loved this book as well.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Atria Books and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of My Friends!

Fredrik Backman has done it again! Is there anything he writes that I won’t give 5 stars too?

“A book about four teenagers who form a friendship that changes their lives and a painting that connects them to a stranger.” Nothing more needs to be said on the description.

This book was beautiful, heartbreaking and soul warming. I wanted to devour it, but I have been in a pretty low mental state the last two weeks so it took me longer to read than I thought. I am glad I took the time to read it slow and absorb the story. These characters were so well written, I wanted to be friends with them as a kid. To find friendships like these are rare and to be able to get readers to feel that love through words is even more rare. This might be my favorite Backman novel to date.

Nobody can tap into human emotions quite like Fredrik Backman. He has this ability to make me laugh and then shatter me to a million pieces.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to say in this review, the only thing that I kept thinking is that I don’t want to say too much about the story and spoil any part of it, I just want to yell at everyone to read it. To say that I loved this novel would be such an understatement. As soon as I began reading it, I knew that it was not only going to be just what I wanted, but also just what I needed.

The characters in My Friends were everything. I could picture every scene, interaction, every glorious summer day that they spent together, and every hardship that they had to endure. I adored the way that their story was told. It was perfect. It hit me straight in the heart. As I read, I wanted to just keep reading one more chapter, and one more chapter, but the problem with that is that I also didn’t want the novel to end. I didn’t think that I was ever going to be completely ready to say goodbye to these characters. Even days later, I wished I still had a couple hundred pages left to spend with them.

With each turn of the page, it seemed as though I was either laughing or wiping the tears that were falling down my cheeks. I have read my share of tearjerkers before, but I have never felt so emotionally invested in a story or felt it so intensely.

I have been telling everyone that I know that they need to read this novel. This book is not only going to be making my list of favorite books of 2025, but this book is one of the best books that I have ever read. Mr. Backman, I don’t know how you do it, but please don’t ever stop, your writing is a thing of beauty.

*5+ Stars

Louissa is a young runaway from a foster home who not only loves art but is an artist herself but doesn't know it yet. Her path takes her to her idol of a famous artist which also leads her to many stories to 25 years ago of friends of his and the close bond they had. How their relationship with each other helped shape each other's lives and later on shapes other's lives as well.

I have read all of Backmans books and loved them all including this one. The character development in this book is just wonderful and you fall in love with each character. You find yourself laughing, crying, and rooting them all on. This is a wonderful book.

I read the ARC of My Friends by Fredrik Backman and I absolutely loved it. I laughed, I cried, I laughed, I cried. rinse & repeat. This story is largely told by a 39 year old man to an 18 year old girl about his group of friends the summer they were 14. And, it is told in the way stories are often told with detours and tangents and questions. As if it was an actual conversation. I highlighted so much of this e-arc on my kindle because I think the writing is brilliant. The story is about broken people and the lives they forge out of the darkness, the brokenness. "Art is a fragile magic, just like love, and that is 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." It is a book about friends, and found family, and living not the life you've been given but the life you dream about. I love this book. Thank you so much Net Galley and Atria Books for my arc. This book is releasing Tuesday, May 6, 2025.

I *LOVE* Backman's books. Like love beyond reason. So I was very very excited to read this one. And maybe it was my extreme excitement that made it for the hard to live up to it, but it just didn't work as well as prior books like Ove or Anxious People. I love Backman's bringing together of disparate people, hurting in their own ways. I love his humor. This book tries those things but never to the same effect as prior books. A story of friends and art, I was very much into the flashback story telling by Ted but was incredibly frustrated at the meandering way that the flashbacks were told and at the interruption by present day, a storyline that was a million times less compelling after the first couple chapters. I guess the pacing just never worked for me. I loved the bones of it but a rare miss from Backman.

My Friends is out May 6, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think I have to words to describe how much I love this book (and author!).

Like all Backman books - for me it takes a little while to fully immerse myself in the characters and setting, but once I am in, it is well worth it. I highlighted so many lines, phrases and moments.

This is an amazing story about a group of friends - and new friends along the way. Found family is my favorite, and this book does it 100 times better than most!


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

5 love this author stars

I was a little afraid to read this one because I loved the Beartown series so much. I wondered if this author could top those or even match them. It’s safe to say his writing is top-notch here as well. Backman somehow creates these broken characters that are so human and fully developed that I feel like I know them and want to hug them!

We meet Louisa, a young artist raised in foster homes about to come face-to-face with a painting she has coveted for some time. It’s a very famous painting of three friends at the end of a pier and the seaside. If you look closely, you will see them. And Louisa wants to know their story.

In this magical story, Louisa’s story is mixed in with the artist's and his friend’s stories. These misfit friends are there for each other in so many ways, and they would do anything for each other.

Joar, who has to fight battles at home and school, is a fierce protector. Ted is the quiet one in the group. Ali brings joy to the group. And the artist, filled with incredible talent that teachers don’t know how to cultivate. They all have obstacles in life, but their friendship is the biggest gift.

We learn the friend’s life stories as they are told to Louisa, and I didn’t want to get to the end of the story either. The summer of the painting came to vivid life in this book. What will Louisa do with all this knowledge, and how will it influence her painting?

This one brought out all the emotions as I read it and marveled at Backman’s talented writing. A story that shows us what friendship is all about and how we should cherish our friends.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy <3 I may have squealed when I got the email!

Originally 5 stars, but I sat with this for a few days and I feel more like it should be 4.5-4.75. This book is another incredible read from Fredrik Backman. Told in a back and forth between present day and 25 years ago (which is the year 2000 in case anyone wants to feel old) by one of the 4 friends. Joar, Ted, the artist, and Ali (al-ee) have one perfect summer when they're 14, full of bike rides, swimming in the sea, and loving each other like only 14 year olds can. Fredrik Backman so perfectly encapsulates what it is to feel and be human and what it is to feel 14 (the two are NOT the same thing).

This book made me cry no less than 3 times.

The reason I took away half to three-quarters of a star is because of how SAD this book is. Life isn't perfect, I don't want it to be portrayed that way. But my god was this book hopeless. Not necessarily trauma p*rn, but I had to take regular breaks from reading this to read a fluffy no-substance romance novel because of how dismal this book made me feel. But that truly is how it feels to be 14. But surely what are the odds that 4/4 (100%) of a friend group have abusive parents, are bullied at school, and generally have horrific lives? None of them have any hope to do anything with their lives? Maybe I didn't like that because it's too close to my own hometown.

Anyways, I loved this book and absolutely will be recommending it to everyone I see.

Thank you @atriabooks for the complimentary ARC. ♡

·∘⋆⊹ “𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚊𝚙 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚘 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚎.” ⊹⋆∘·

I was nervous to read my first Backman, afraid my expectations would be too high. I’m glad to report that there was no reason to be concerned — I loved this book.

This book is an endless sea, a great friendship, a true love story. It’s dual timeline, which left me apprehensive each time we traveled back to the past.

Backman uses humor to deal with emotionally charged topics, while dropping little nuggets of wisdom along the way. I loved the interplay between the child (well, she’s 18 but she seems young to me), and the older characters (*eh-hem* they’re all younger than me at 38-40 😂😅).

I was tearing up within the first 5 chapters and it didn’t let up till the end, with love and hope shining through. I leave you with some of my fave quotes (along with the one up top):

“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚊 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎’𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.”

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

“𝚈𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚞𝚜.” 😭🥹

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ My Friends is releasing tomorrow, May 6! You won’t regret reading this one.

TW: Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Rape (off page), Death, Drug Abuse, Addiction, Assault, Violence

Reading a Fredrik Backman novel is akin to sitting on the porch with a dear friend talking well into the night and going wherever the conversation takes you. The subject matter switches easily from reminiscence to philosophizing and back again. You laugh and you cry; pausing occasionally to sit with your feelings. When you finally rise from your chair to call it a night, your heart is fuller because time spent with a friend is a true gift. Fredrik Backman is a gift and this novel, MY FRIENDS, is a testament to his ability to get to the heart of what makes us human.

This is a story of friends and friendship and the importance of both and their ability to sustain us when the world is bleak and scary and full of pain. It is a story of art—it’s beauty and how it connects us. It is a tale of resilience amid circumstances that seem unsurvivable. It is the essence of love in its most basic and truest form. It is a gift from Backman to the world; slowly unfolding and embracing the reader like a promise.

It’s best to go into this novel with an open heart. Let yourself follow Backman’s brilliant writing on a journey of discovery. You’ll laugh and cry. You’ll roil at the unjustness of circumstances and revel in the beauty of the universe. And, in the end, you’ll be thankful for the time on the porch with that friend who makes the world a better place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

On brand with Frederick’s other novels, this is moving and heart warming, but I found it to be a little immature and too on the nose. It repeated cliches and quotes pretty often and in some ways felt like a children’s book.