My Friends" is a heartwarming and hilarious exploration of friendship, loss, and the enduring power of human connection. Backman's signature blend of humor, poignancy, and insightful observations about the human condition makes this novel an unforgettable reading experience.
I have read several of Fredrick Backman and I can honestly say this one is my favorite! Thank you so much Netgalley and the publishers for this incredible book. #Netgalley #Myfriends

Pub date: 5-2025

This book has left me a little stunned. What a beautiful journey it has taken me on that I wasn’t expecting! I attempted to read Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People years ago, and I couldn’t get in to it, so I didn’t have very high expectations going in to this book. Boy, I couldn’t be more wrong! Backman is a wise sage leading you through life’s trials with intentional and thought provoking conversations within the safety of deep friendship and grace. Not only was there so many beautiful truths sprinkled throughout the entire book, but the characters become people whom you deeply care about. Backman has a unique way of taking a simple fact of life and pulling the irony out of it. Such as the first paragraph of the book: “Louisa is a teenager, the best kind of human. The evidence for this is very simple: 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 kind of humans.”
While there were SO many aspects of this book that I loved, one that stuck out to me was the portrayal of the pure, genuine love of a friend. It wasn’t sexualized, it was just raw and honest and they weren’t afraid to say “I love you”. It was truly beautiful. Each character has a hard story of brokenness but when they come together, the bond of friendship and trust is so healing.
Then you have the art aspect, which in itself was so well done. The painting from the artist was this beautiful representation of the complexity and joy of friendship. It honored those who are and think differently than you. It honored the complexity of parental relationship. It found the good in humanity and the richness that can flow from human relationships.
Needless to say, this book will live rent free in my head forever. It was THAT moving. Well done Backman! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the copy of this book in exchange for this review. I’m forever grateful to have read it.

4.5 ⭐

I swear no one can make me cry the way Fredrik Backman can... or laugh. I've long loved his unique voice in storytelling -  mixing humor with poignancy, making me laugh out loud one moment while reducing me to tears in the very next sentence. He's truly a master at his craft, and never has that been more apparent than it is in My Friends.

Featuring a wonderfully complex and misfit cast of characters, this book is a love letter to friendship, an ode to finding a sense of belonging in a world that can so often make you feel battered and alone. Grab your tissues for this one, readers. Between these pages, you will find themes of art, friendship, found family, and grief. Backman has a way of writing flawed characters so beautifully, so acutely that it's impossible not to fall in love with them. He breathes life and meaning into all the everyday, seemingly mundane moments...somehow through his writing, these moments pack an emotional punch as they add up to what it means to be human. In short, this book is exquisite.

Thank you Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Summary: A deeply moving and humorous tale, My Friends follows four teens whose unlikely friendship inspires a masterpiece, transforming lives—including that of a young artist determined to uncover their story twenty-five years later.

My Review: Told in Backman's signature style, this book is a slow burn, but oh so deep and powerful! Fredrik Backman’s latest masterpiece is an unforgettable tale of friendship, love, grief, and art that made me laugh, cry, and marvel at its brilliance. Following four teens bound by an unshakable bond and the creation of a painting that changes lives decades later, this heartfelt story explores the depths of human connection with humor, tenderness, and profound emotional resonance. It’s Backman at his absolute best—don’t miss it.

Genres/Themes: Fiction / Friendship / Literary / Humorous

My Friends is scheduled for publication on May 20, 2025, by Atria Books.

Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors and has outdone himself once again.
This is an emotionally satisfying story on friendships and human connections.
I highly recommend this book.

A deeply moving story about friendship, loss, grief and bonding!

This was such a strong story about these friendships and what they’ll do to keep them. All the characters were written so well and had such great chemistry between all the friends.

I don’t want to give much away because this one is best going in blind - I will just say this is a great platonic love story all centering around a piece of art.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the ARC Copy!

fredrik backman who do you think you are 😭 why must you ALWAYS be out here breaking people’s hearts left and right???? i am shattered. i am not even a whole person at this point. he simply knows how to take the most humane concepts that everybody goes through and expands on that through his unique was of writing and communication. it’s storytelling unlike i’ve ever read. if you just want to sob in your book from page one, here ya go!

I cannot put into words how much I love this book. This is by far the best book I’ve read in years, and I will cherish it deeply. Fredrik Backman…. the writer you are.

review to come closer to release date

i don't think i am capable of describing just how BEAUTIFUL this book was. the friendships, the dynamics, the characters.....BEAUTIFUL. i have lost count of the amount of tears that were shed. backman's writing is just so goddamn beautiful that it leaves you in awe. how can a person possibly write like this??? how can someone's brain work like this??? there are still tears in my eyes as i'm typing this and i just. my favourite fredrik backman book now. thank you so much for the ARC.

I love Fredrik Backman and I’m seriously thanking my lucky stars that I had the opportunity to read an early copy of this book, so thank you SO much to @netgalley and @atriabooks for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was instantly captivated by this book; the opening scenes were just so immersive and beautifully set up - they gave me that magical, *this book is going to be amazing* feeling. But then, and I hate to even say this because I love Backman so much, it went a bit off the rails…

I’ve struggled with how best to convey my thoughts on why the magic started to fade for me, so let me just tell you a bit about the premise first:

There’s a world famous painting being sold at an auction. An 18 year old girl, Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, has carried around a postcard print of this painting for years, and she is blown away seeing it in person. She despises all of the wealthy people who are about to bid on it, not because they appreciate the art, but just because they are aware of its value and want the status of owning it.

Louisa stumbles upon a man in the alley outside of the auction who she thinks is homeless. She realizes it is in fact the artist himself, who is at the very end of his life. He becomes immediately enamoured with her and recognizes her as a kindred spirit. Louisa gets pulled into the artist’s inner circle and most of the story is her being told about his life growing up with his 3 best friends.

There was SO much potential in this story and I see what Backman was trying to do, I just couldn’t fully get on board with how quickly Louisa became an insider to the artist and his friends, and how deeply she cared about hearing their entire life stories. I almost wished that her character wasn’t included at all, and the book was just about the artist and his 3 best friends growing up. I think this would’ve given the story so much more depth and emotional connection.

I still really loved this book; it had all of Backman’s signature writing quirks which his fans will recognize and appreciate, I just think it could’ve been so much more.

Please read this when it comes out May 20 and let me know what you think!

This was an emotional, incredibly compelling story about friendship, loss, and love. I really enjoyed the dual timelines and thought that the author did a great job of gradually bringing the past and present together. The four original friends had such a beautiful friendship and love for one another and I enjoyed how “they” brought Louisa into the mix as “one of them.” The story was definitely dark at points and touched on abuse, violence, and sexual assault, which may be unsettling for some readers but I thought added a dimension of reality to the story. Overall a great read that has left me with a lot to think about!

Backman does not disappoint in his latest novel. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, I can't help but feel that the pacing was a tad off from time to time. Certain bits of the novel seemed to slog on endlessly and had me occasionally checking how many pages I had left to read. Not that that detracted from my overall enjoyment, however. Each of these characters were a joy to see develop and to see their relationships to one another.

In one (of many) thought-provoking moments within this novel, Fredrik Backman writes, "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" (Backman n. pag.).

What a beautiful novel this is. I have read all of Fredrik Backman's novels and I believe this could, in fact, be his very best yet. It took no time at all for me to be instantly engaged and immersed in the story of these unforgettable characters. They all have such multi-faceted natures, with personalities that come right off the page.

At its core, this is a novel about grief and about living. Our primary characters, Louisa and Ted, are grieving the lives of the loved ones they lost. They must lean on each other to try to cope and to learn how to live on, in spite of it all. It is through telling their stories that they begin to identify what connects them and it is through the sharing of stories that they not only begin to embrace one another, but the possibility of living their lives again. This is also a novel about the beauty of art to capture a moment and to make us feel just a bit more human and to marvel at it all. While it may seem unconventional to use a painting as the impetus for a meditation on living since a painting is only a moment in time, I think it ultimately makes a lot of sense. The friendship of Ted, Joar, the artist, and Ali created the artwork that the artist captured within the painting and that is the foundation for the entire novel that follows, which I consider a magnificent work of art. It is a beautiful testament to the power of stories to help us learn about others and, in turn, to do the work of getting to know ourselves better. This is a novel that will make readers contemplate their own lives, as they are moved by the stories of these characters. This is a story that will make any reader smile, laugh, tear up, and think deeply. It is a story that will stay with me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel, in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Wow. FB does it again! I think this is my favorite one to date. Thank you to netgally and the publisher for an early copy to review 5 ⭐️

It all starts when four teenagers spend their summer on a pier that ends up turning into a world famous painting. The four teenagers spend their last summer escaping their rough home lives to swim and stir up trouble, laughing, watching super hero movies in a basement and letting out the occasional fart. 25 years later, the painting that originates from that summer ends up in the hands of 18 year old Louisa, who sees it for what it really is. Here, we begin a journey to find out how the painting really came to be.

A workout of art about a work of art. A mix of “Beartown” and “a man called ove”, Backman gives us “my friends”. A beautiful story with multiple characters that are impossible not to fall in love with. To understand the story, you must understand each and every one of them. Keeping track of these characters and their stories was not hard, in fact, it was an honour to know them. With a mix of humour, grief, and adventure, Backman may have just gave us one of the best books of the year or likely the 21st century. My critiques are small, I was just as annoyed as Louisa for how long this story was taking to be told and I was even annoyed at Louis for making everyone else’s trauma about her. Other than that, perfect.

thank you netgalley for the arc! I urge everyone to run and read this as soon as it’s released on May 20, 2025🩵

Goodreads rating: 4.66⭐️
my rating: 4⭐️

There were parts of this novel that I liked very, very much… And there were parts that I felt were way too long and dragged on and on. About halfway through, I started skimming through the backstory of the teenagers because it just felt like way too much.

What I loved about this novel were the bits of wisdom in the cleverly beautiful writing, and the explorations of friendship and loss and what it means to be human. Aside from that, the most important part of this novel for me is the emphasis on art and what it means to people and how it moves people.

There is quite a lot of violence and physical abuse shown in detail throughout the novel, and I believe there should be a trigger warning at the beginning of the book because people who have been through this kind of violence will possibly be triggered by the words and the descriptions of such violence.

Thanks to the author and publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this novel exchange from my honest review.

"I love you. I trust you.”

This is the story of four fourteen year old friends who, over the years, were as close as friends could be. All of them came from impoverished homes and most of those homes were loveless and violent. They understood one another in a special way that only fourteen year olds can. They were there for one another, cared for one another and supported one another in that special way that reflected their genuine, heartfelt friendships. Their understanding of one another ran so deep that, years later, in one of those rare times when they met someone who would fit into their small group, they would tell the others “I met one of us”.

It is a story of being young, of trying to understand yourself, your age group, your friends. A story of friendship and heartbreak. Keep you tissues handy, it will tear your heart apart then gently put it back together. It will make you laugh: from little chuckles to big guffaws. It’ll make you cry: from watery eyes to gasping sobs.

This is a story of friendship and... a very special painting.

Backman will make you feel all the feels as only he can - and you’ll thank him for it.
Be sure to read the dedication. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to #NetGalley #FredrrikBackman #AtriaBooks for an advanced copy os The Friends in exchange for a fair, unbiased review. Publication Date: May 20, 2025

#EmptyNestReader #instagram #Goodreads #MyFriends #FredrikBachman #fiction
#JanuaryReads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #ebooks #ARC

This book feels like another Backman classic. He does such a good job of building broken characters in a world that beats them but also builds them up. I really loved how the pieces unfolded out of order, bouncing between past and present. It was really well thought out. I can't quote this book yet, but there were so many good lines about art, life and philosophy. Great read overall.

“…the most dangerous place on earth is inside us. Fragile hearts break in palaces and dark alleys alike.”

Here comes Fredrik Backman with another banger, and I don't think any of his books have left me in tears from the first chapter like My Friends did. The storyline is rooted in trauma, and I had an easy time relating to the group of friends as well as Louisa. Maybe it is because my childhood (under the age of 12) could easily fit in with theirs, but they were also all very empathetic characters, and you couldn’t help but hurt for each and every one of them. Backman drops a lot of wisdom throughout the book, and it sometimes feels like he is pushing his own beliefs onto the reader which made the writing style very interesting and unique. I didn’t have any issues with this, and I felt like a lot of what he said were giant truth bombs that made it all that much more realistic.

I didn’t have the audiobook since I read this so far in advance, and I definitely took my sweet time with it. My reading time says December 29th to January 21st, but in reality, I basically read this in 3 sittings. I never wanted it to end despite the pain and heartbreak, and somehow these 448 pages felt more like a couple of hundred to me. There are a boatload of triggers hiding in My Friends, so if you have any you should definitely look into what they are prior to picking this up. I loved that the book is told through the eyes of multiple characters (more when we get towards the end), and we get plenty of flashbacks until we have the entire picture. The cast of characters is unforgettable, and the humor Backman infused throughout helped me smile through my tears on multiple occasions. The twist at the end made my jaw drop, and the last chapter left me with so much hope and a smile on my face.

Read this if you love books focused on the power of friendship, stories that are extremely emotional but laugh out loud funny at the same time and reads that feel epic despite being mostly based on one year of life. A lot can happen in a year…

Of course, I am going to enjoy a Fredrik Backman book. However, I’m also going to compare it to the other works in his catalog. I would say this novel is not as good as Anxious People or Beartown, but definitely better than A Man Called Ove.

The book does have an intriguing perspective about friendship. Backman delve into the lives of four friends and their core memories. Rather than reminisce about first loves and family drama, Backman‘s protagonists retell stories about a dysfunctional childhood. Although the story is not linear, the author deftly moves between the current time and the flashbacks. What sets this novel apart is the discussion of art that is never far from the forefront of the stories. Backman creates a set of motley, yet lovable, characters who are struggling to feel that they are enough in this world. One of the things I enjoy about Backman’s books is the fact that I never know where his story is going to end up. His creativity ensures that he does not create predictable characters or plot lines.

The only thing that attracts from the novel is a slow development aspect during the train ride. I felt it ruined the pacing of the novel, and it distracted the reader from the larger themes of acceptance.