📚: My Friends by Fredrik Backman
⭐️: 5/5

“Little children think teenagers are the best humans, and teenagers think teenagers are the best humans, the only people who don’t think that teenagers are the best humans are adults. Which is obviously because adults are the worst kinds of humans.”

This is a story going back decades about a group of teenagers during one pivotal summer. This is a story today about a teenager that finds herself lost in the world. It’s a story about how art - one certain painting - brings their worlds together.

No one, and I mean no one, story tells quite like Fredrik Backman. This story was so layered, with characters so human and real, that it made my heart ache.

A huge thank you to Atria Books via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. My Friends is out now!

This review is a little late, but once I started reading this, I didn't want to rush through it to make a deadline.

My first full-length novel by Fredrik Backman was quite a success. It's not perfect for me, though. I thought it was a little dragged out, and I didn't love how things were foreshadowed as worse than they actually were. I mean, I'm glad things didn't turn out to be as bad as I'd imagined for these characters because I came to care about them, but I just don't like that the writing felt emotionally manipulative. It didn't need that.

That aside, I loved everything else. I really vibed with the writing style and author's voice, the characters were all interesting and felt very real, and I loved the way the themes were explored. It's such a beautiful thing to be able to capture both the beauty and horror of life, and how that beauty often comes from the people we choose to have in our lives, the relationships we choose to nurture, the things and people we choose to fight for and continue living for even when it feels like everything else sucks.

This was a beautiful, moving read that makes you reflect on life (and appreciate it) and want to sit with these characters. That always makes a book worthwhile, in my opinion.

This is the story about Louisa who is attached to a painting by an artist named C. Jat. And then she gets the chance to meet him as well.

The artist is unwell and his best friend Ted is there to take care of him in his last days. The artist tells Ted to take care of Louisa.

Louisa and Ted forms an unlikely friendship and both of them ensues of an adventure.

I love this book so much. Only Fredrick Backman can make us smile while crying.

This story is mostly about friendship and love and art. This book is sad and heartwarming at the same time.

Cannot recommend this book enough!!

Fredrik Backman’s My Friends is a beautifully layered, emotionally resonant novel that continues his gift for portraying the messiness of being human. Backman dives deep into the emotional lives of ordinary people, exploring friendship, loyalty, pain, and healing with tenderness.
Themes of trauma, forgiveness, and identity take center stage, especially in the way friendships evolve and endure over time. Backman challenges the reader to consider the emotional labor of being there for someone—and how friendships, like families, can be chosen but still messy.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC

BRAVO!!! 👏👏A standing ovation for this beautiful book! Fredrik Backman has such a unique style of writing, and this story is nothing less than poignant!

The story about these outcasts is woven between past and present. A work of art holds these friends together, and their companionship leaves its heritage with future generations.

It's a heart-rending, inspirational story that will leave you turning the pages with speed to find out what happens next.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the advanced reader's copy of this PHENOMENAL book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #MyFriends #Friendship #FriendsLikeFamily #GeneralFiction

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a book about the struggles in life as a child and the way it impacts us as adults. It's about finding family in your friends when your blood family is too busy, mean, and hurtful to care about you. It's about having dreams and being brave enough to go after them. This is a great book full of life lessons and characters you'll grow to care about as family. Louisa is a seventeen year old who has been in foster care most of her life. She's about to turn 18 and has suffered a tremendous loss. The girl she was closest to and loved died and Louisa has never felt so alone. Fish was her friend's name and she was her person. They got each other and protected each other with all of the horrors faced in foster care.

Louisa is an artist and goes to a museum to see a famous painting that she's carried on a postcard for many years. It was the last time she heard from her mother and the painting on the postcard means a lot to Louisa. She wants to see it in person because she thinks the artist signs it and paints 3 people next to his signature. The book goes back 25 years earlier and will continue to tell the story of the artist and his friends in dual timelines. You'll bounce from Louisa in current time to Ted, Joar, Ali, and the artist. You'll learn how the famous painting was created and how it almost didn't come to be. You'll discover how Louisa came to own the painting and what she decides to do with it as her journey takes her on a cross-country journey to discover the truth behind it.

Read this book when you have time to give to it as you will want to continue reading it once you start. I fell in love with Louisa, Ted, the artist, Joar, and Ali. You learn the story of all of them in bits and pieces that will keep you glued to the pages. As is said in the book several times, in life the days go slow but the years go fast. Truer words have never been spoken. Fredrik Backman has written a masterpiece and I rate it 5 stars with my very highest recommendation. My Friends is available now and should go to the top of your TBR list. I'd like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of My Friends in exchange for a fair review. #MyFriends

No one can tear me apart and put me back together like Fredrik Backman can. I cried and laughed with these characters. I was appalled at what they had to deal with, but encouraged by their resilience. He puts the characters through the lowest of lows, but shows the light of hope shining through on the other side like he always does. Life is a mix of pleasure and pain and no one articulates that better than Backman.

My Friends is a quietly powerful novel about loss, friendship, and the family we choose. The story isn’t driven by a fast-paced plot or dramatic twists. Instead, it focuses on the emotional depth of its characters and the relationships between them.

There is a lot of telling rather than showing, but the storytelling is so literal and intentional that it feels personal and intimate.

What truly sets this book apart is the characters. They are flawed, authentic, and unforgettable. Backman has a rare talent for creating people who feel like they’ve existed long before you met them on the page.

I especially loved Louisa and the instant bond she forms at the beginning of the book. That feeling of connecting with someone right away, of recognizing a “one of us” moment, was incredibly relatable and added a sense of warmth that stayed with me.

This isn’t a book driven by action, but by emotion. If you’re drawn to stories that explore the human experience with tenderness and insight, My Friends is one to read.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

No one writes characters like Frederik Backman. I really enjoyed this book and how he twisted the light and the darkness of life together. The two timelines presented were both amazing in how he showcased different types of relationships. He really knows how to both break your heart and make you laugh...on the same page! The perfect mixture of humor, life, and love.

Thank you Atria books and Net Galley for the ARC copy.

The famous artist painted his first painting the summer when he and his friends were fourteen years old. Everyone thinks its a painting of the sea, but they're wrong. This is a story of four friends and an unforgettable summer and a girl and one of those friends twenty-five years later.

I love Fredrik Backman's books, and this one was amazing!

My Friends is the compelling story of a painting and lifetime friendships that withstand the test of time.

In this coming-of-age story, four teenagers form a bond of friendship as a way to survive broken families and trauma. Twenty-five years later, a painting from that time changes the life of another struggling young adult as she unravels the story behind the painting.

First, I must mention trigger warnings and content considerations. The story contains child abuse, dysfunctional family drama, and profanity. Neglect and mistreatment of children made the story difficult to read at times, and I had to take breaks. The brilliant writing and compelling characterizations caused me to finish. If I had known the content before reading, I might have passed on this one. Yet, I am a Backman completist, and I trust him to take me to difficult places and provide healing and restoration in the end.

If you read Backman, you know that he is a master of characterization. His characters are fully drawn and memorable. Through the characters in this story, we experience how friendships save lives.

Art is an important element of the story. One of the childhood friends is an artist who captures their friendship in a painting that is now a valuable and famous work of art. In the present day, Louisa comes into possession of the original painting, and it piques her interest. As she researches and investigates the story behind the painting and meets the friends, it changes her life.

My Friends is a dramatic, emotional, and gritty story that Backman fans (who are OK with the content warnings) will appreciate. (Amazon has it categorized as humorous fiction….so misleading)

Thanks #NetGalley @AtriaBooks for a complimentary eARC of #MyFriends upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Just when I think I’m safe BAM this man hurts me AGAIN!!! The rule stays: I have cried at every single Backman book I have ever read.

I’m not always affected by coming-of-age stories but MAN did these damn teenagers get me right through the ribs. I also love a time jump, so alternating between the present/future and the past kept me loving every second of this story.

Backman came from Stockholm to MILWAUKEE (???) to celebrate the release of this book and I’m so honored to have seen one of my favorite authors of ALL TIME speak in person. He noted that “reading, to me, is a vehicle to escape reality” (oof Fred) and this sad story helped me do just that.

On how his characters are so realistic and human, Backman commented “I’m not super interested in functioning people”. Me neither, babe.

Any Fredrik Backman book is a must-read for me, and should be for you, too. Huge thanks to him, to Atria Books, and to NetGalley for an exchange of an eARC of this book for an honest review. The signed copy I purchased will hold a space in my heart forever 🫶🏻

“It’s a funny thing. The person we fall in love with, we hardly ever call by their name. Because it’s somehow just so obvious that it’s you I’m talking to, that it’s you I’m always thinking of. Who else?”

I went into the book way more blind than I thought I would! I don’t usually NOT read a summary of a book before reading it, but I’m so glad I didn’t really for this. No surprise Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors and just my favorite person. His books feel like you’re reading a story with inner thoughts, like you’re simultaneously going through the emotions and story with the characters. His writing feels therapeutic to me, just insight into being human and the human condition. I just go through all the emotions with his books. Especially humor, laugh-out-loud moments, and dialogue that feels so realistic. There are some triggering themes in this, he doesn’t shy away from the hard topics. But there’s such a beautiful story of friendship and healing in this, and also an adventure. I also really saw myself in Ted, felt so seen on so many of his thoughts and feelings.

The Artist, Joar, Ted, Ali, and Louisa. I loved My Friends, I felt like I was leaving MY FRIENDS when I finished 🥹 glad this story was written…closed the book with some tears in my eyes. How did it get there!

I had high hopes for this one, as Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors, but this was just a story I could not get into.

I feel so lucky to have been able to read an ARC of Backman’s upcoming release, My Friends.

In true Backman fashion, he keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. This was brilliantly done. Backman has a way with words (clearly I don’t because I’m at a loss for any good ones to describe my reading experience)

I loved the the four friends, plus those they trusted to let into their world.

As a huge fan of Fredrik Backman, I was beyond excited when I heard he was coming out with a new novel. My Friends is, without a doubt, his best work yet and one of my absolute favorite reads of the year. This book has everything you could want from a great novel: it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s achingly heartbreaking, and it’s filled with hope and moments of uplifting joy. I honestly can’t recommend it enough, and it’s definitely going to be one of those books I revisit again in the future.

What really stood out to me was the depth of the characters. Backman has a remarkable ability to create nuanced, fully-realized individuals who feel incredibly real and truthful. Each character’s voice and motivations are so clearly defined, and as I read, I found myself deeply invested in their lives and journeys. The bond between the childhood friends in this story is powerful and incredibly relatable, especially for anyone who’s ever had a close-knit group of friends who were there through thick and thin. It felt so genuine and authentic—those friendships were portrayed with so much heart and complexity.

The beauty of My Friends lies in the way each character has their own arc, and every single one of those arcs feels earned. Whether the resolution of their story is happy, sad, or even tragic, it all felt true to the characters and their individual experiences. Backman has a special way of balancing emotion—he knows how to make you laugh, but he also doesn’t shy away from the raw, painful realities of life. There were moments in the book that had me laughing out loud, but just as quickly, the story would take a turn that would leave me emotionally wrecked. And yet, even in those moments of heartbreak, there’s a sense of hope that shines through, reminding the reader of the power of human connection and the strength of friendship.

By the time I reached the conclusion, I felt completely satisfied with how the characters’ stories had unfolded. Each ending, whether it was joyful or bittersweet, felt like the right one for the journey these characters had been on. It was a fitting close to a truly beautiful story.

This is a novel that I will cherish for years to come. Fredrik Backman has crafted a story that’s as emotionally resonant as it is enjoyable, and it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. With humor, heartache, and hope woven throughout, this book is a testament to the power of friendship and the importance of those bonds we form throughout our lives.

I don't even know where to start with this book. All I know is this is my favorite Fredrik Backman to date. I feel like this is a story that you need to go in to it blind because even if you know what it is about... I don't think you really know what it is about. They way this story is weaved together truly brings out all of the emotion as you become more and more invested in these characters. This is definitely a book I would recommend if you are a fan of Fredrik or if you are for that one book to read of his if he is new to you. I would definitely recommend checking trigger warnings if that is something you are sensitive to since these characters do experience a lot of life throughout this story. This is a book I could see myself re-reading in the future and talking about for days on end.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the ARC.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC of this novel.

If Fredrik Backman writes it, I’m going to read it. This was another wonderful novel by him. It made me laugh, it made me cry and feel pretty much every other emotion there is to feel. This is a beautiful story about friendship, found family, love, trauma, grief and healing.

I loved the characters in this book and how all the stories came together in the end. I think that’s the beauty of Fredrik Backman’s books. It’s how he ties everything together and how beautiful all the stories come together.

I will say I don’t think any book can beat Anxious People for me but this was fantastic nevertheless.

5/5 stars

When it comes to Fredrick Backman, I’ve learned that no matter if I read through with speed or savor the flavor slowly, I will always be sad to come to the last page of his creations. Backman has a very special way of making me feel like his characters are my friends, so I don’t want to lose my friends by finishing the book.

My Friends is a book about art, friendships, family, growing up, summers, trauma, teenage rebellion, love, and how the most opposite personalities can become the best of friends. This book made me laugh, cry, scream, pull my hair out, and all the emotions in between.

It may seem like a slow start, but trust the process (and enjoy it!). The characters and plot are being built with care.

Thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the ARC.

I'm new to Backman and it's been hit and miss with me on the few I've read. This one was amazing and I'm so glad I got to read it!