This was a such a beautiful story – about survival, friendship, and love. Louisa has been inspired by a famous painting for most of her life. It provided her with comfort on some of her darkest days. Little did she know that the painting and the story of its creation would change her life forever. I love how the story of the painting unfolds throughout the book, in the most unexpected way. I loved the characters and the love and support they had for each other – we could only be so lucky to find such true friendship and love in our lives. Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC!

I think I'm supposed to really have liked this, and it was ok, but not as good as I was expecting. I've only ever read one other book by this author, A Man Called Ove and I really liked it, but this one was hard to read. It kept going back and forth in time and repeating the same story with a little more info added each time. It had some funny lines and exchanges and the characters had potential, but I skipped through some of it just to get the main story. I'm glad I finished it, but it wasn't a life changer.

A very different book from Backman, but no less wonderful. His ability to create characters that you can't help but fall in love with will never cease to impress me. And when part of the story is hidden in mystery, he always knows just the right time to reveal it. A feel good story with a touch of sadness. Just buy me a t-shirt that reads "will read anything by Fredrik Backman.

This was such a beautifully written story. The book follows four friends and Louisa, and Fredrik Backman made me believe in every one of them. He brought the characters to life in a way that made me feel like I truly knew them. I grieved with them, laughed with them, and experienced a whirlwind of emotions. My heart was broken, put back together, and broken again. I haven’t felt this connected to characters in a long time.

Through these pages, Backman masterfully portrayed emotions such as heartache, grief, love, happiness, forgiveness, trust, determination, and the resilience needed to overcome trauma. The characters’ journeys felt deeply personal, and they have become a part of me—they are my friends at heart.

This book is one of my favorites of 2025, and I beg you to read it. I’ll be diving into Fredrik Backman’s backlist because his writing is truly phenomenal and unlike anything I’ve ever read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria, for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for my honest review.

Fredrik Backman has the uncanny ability to make me laugh and cry at the same time and I love it.
There once was a small town where four teens lived the best they could with the world they were given -protecting each other, making each other laugh instead of cry and most important - trusting each other. What they couldn't find in the world they found in each other and the artist among them captured it in one painting. That painting then went out into the world and became the most important thing to another teenage artist. A chance encounter brings Louisa into the four friend's universe where one crazy roadtrip will complete the full circle. Full of love, soul rocking friendship and honesty, this is his best story yet. I fell completely for these characters and didn't want it to end. All of his fans will enjoy this but if the BEARTOWN story touched your heart this one is for you. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Hilariously funny and consistently heartbreaking throughout, this is a story of how friendship and art triumphs over darkness.

The story is woven between four friends 25 years earlier from troubled backgrounds. Their parents are addicts, abusive, impoverished. They also face physical and verbal abuse from their peers. By banding together, they survive. And one of them, an artist, paints a picture that will become worth millions.

Now, Louisa, who also had a difficult childhood, has just turned 18. She’s carried a postcard of the painting through her many foster homes. When she sees it in person, events will collide to change her life.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES MAY 20, 2025.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Heartbreaking, but very enjoyable. This one will stick with me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance at an early read.

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful story told in a dual timeline. It made me laugh and cry and then it broke my heart just to put it back together again…thanks Mr. Backman, your books always put me thru an emotional rollercoaster and I live (and love) every minute of it!

To me this story is about friendship and family and what kids will do to protect and save each other when no one will. It’s about the last summer before you turn 15 when your whole life will change and about a chance encounter with the best people we will ever meet. There is mention of physical abuse (but not depicted in much detail), mental health issues, kids and stupid ideas and farts…yes farts.

It was a wonderful reading journey for me, thanks again to NetGalley for the advance digital read.
(Thoughts and opinions of this book are my own)

I think this might be one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. I think this might be Backman's best book yet. My Friends is so sad and beautiful. It's funny and witty. It's heartfelt and heart breaking. I laughed out loud, I snot cried, I felt all the feel in between. At the risk of sounding terribly redundant, there just really is no other word for this book than beautiful.

Wow, just wow. This book is everything that friendships are made of. You'll laugh and cry. There's ups and downs. Heart warming but also heartbreaking. I felt so much reading this book. It's just amazing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Fredrik Backman captures the beauty of art and friendships in his new novel, “My Friends.”

The story speaks of how grief can shape us, and how art can heal and help us to survive.

It follows a group of four friends, and is told in a non-linear manner, that makes for some very tense moments. You have no idea what the next chapter will bring, and which timeline and set of characters it will follow.

There are so many evocative moments in this novel, that if I had wanted to highlight the phrases that moved me, I would have had to highlight the entire book.

I felt this book in my gut. Just read it. You’ll be so thankful that you did.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.*

Backman's insights into humanity are unmatched. In this story we follow Louisa as she traces the history of a painting and its painter. An homage to art and the human spirit in the best way.

Thank yoiu NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to be emotionally wrecked by this beautiful book.

My Friends tells the story of four friends and the bond that saves them all, and their families, in many ways.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a young woman who finds a painting that she connects with. When she finds the painter, she finds out the story behind this famous painting.

I usually love Frederik Backman and his writing. It always touches on the human condition and he writes great characters. However, this book didn’t hit for me like his others.

I think the characters were still great and they had that signature backman quality to them. The story was also touching and emotional.

However, I think it just drug on a bit. I was a bit bored halfway through and it just kept dragging on for me.

I would still recommend this one but his other books are better in my opinion.

When I finished reading this novel I looked at my husband and said "I don't know if I have ever read the perfect book. This is the perfect book" as tears streamed down my face. I have read each and every one of Fredrik Backman's books and each read leaves me with a new sense of hope and wonder about the world. This book is no exception. I was laughing, crying, screaming, and reflecting with each page I turned. I cannot reccomend this book enough. Fredrick Backman writes humanity in a way I have never experienced before. This book is new, its fresh, and absolutley stunning. The characters, the plot, everything about this book was so human and relatable. Truly a work of art.

TY to Net Galley and Atria for the ARC. Being a super fan of Fredrik Backman I knew that I would like this book. What I wasn't prepared for was the breaking of my heart that occurred. This coming of age story about four incomparable friends is a story I will never forget. Neither will you, trust me.

Fredrik Backman, the writer that you are... absolutely perfect 5 stars for My Friends.

This book, as all of Backman's do, tugged at my heart from beginning to end, with the perfect blend of heartache and hope. He does such a wonderful job intertwining the two that the whole reading experience feels both happy and sad at the same time (Kacey Musgraves, hey girl) and it is honestly a beautiful journey the reader is taken on.

My Friends explores what it means to be an artist, how art and friendship can truly transform your life, and the power of art to change the life of a stranger. As a dancer and someone who works in the arts, I have both felt and seen firsthand how art and performance can truly move people and change lives. Art holds an immense power to inspire, provoke, cultivate curiosity, and elicit feelings (both good and bad), and I think that it is truly one of the most beautiful things!!! The community it fosters is also very powerful, and I think that the relationships that formed in My Friends because of the painting were so wonderful and tender and important. Also, the way that grief was written about and spoken about by the characters in this book was so good - very hopeful, but also very blunt and realistic. I love how so much of it was matter of fact, because grief is a big part of life, one that we cannot escape, and sometimes you have to deal with it and speak of it in ways that are emotionless to endure it.

Backman's writing is truly top notch for me every time. They way he writes about the human experience and spirit is masterful, and he always finds ways to make me laugh even while tears are streaming down my face in a midtown coffee shop (me finishing this book omg).

So many quotes stuck out to me!! Here are a couple of my favorites:
"Art is what we leave of ourselves in other people."

"Life is so fragile, coincidence decides so much, it takes so little to change everything."

"It is an act of magnificent rebellion to do meaningless things, to waste time..."

Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC. It might fight A Man Called Ove for the title of my favorite Backman book...

This truly might be the best book I have ever read. I adore Fredrik Backman and he did it again. This book was so special and the friendships will stick with me my whole life.

5 🌟 but who is actually surprised?? Not me! Another heartbreakingly beautiful story that moved me to tears multiple times. I had to hold my glasses away from my face so I could continue reading while the tears rolled down my face. It broke me and healed me in equal measure and I need everyone to pick this up! Why I loved it:

1. The writing style is simplistic but impactful. I highlighted so much of this book and believe that everyone can take something from it! Since the character’s also vary in age and bouncing between the past and present, it’s an extremely accessible read that will still result in very strong emotions.

2. The found family!! Are you kidding?! These kids went through so much but they always belonged to one another and made the best out of the hand life had dealt them. I cannot believe how resilient these characters were. Louisa’s character arc and how she eventually belongs too is so wholesome.

3. Art is a very central theme in this book and I had never given much thought to it before but loved how it was discussed in here. How the artist would paint what he felt and not what he saw. How art is inevitable and doesn’t need to be elitist but just a mark that someone leaves.

The only thing I slightly struggled with was how we’d be in the present and jump into the past without any clear indication that we had done so. Similarly, with shifting between different character’s POVs. I think it could have read more smoothly had there been clear distinction between time and characters but maybe it was a stylistic choice about how everything blends together? Regardless, it did not take away from my overall enjoyment of this story and I will be singing its praises for some time to come!

Thank you so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review 🫶🏼

Have you ever had a friendship that changed your life? Fredrik Backman's latest novel explores exactly that – and then some. My Friends follows four teenagers whose summer together creates ripples that touch a stranger's life 25 years later. It's the kind of story that makes you text your old friends at 2 AM.

Like all Backman books, this one sneaks up on you. At first, it seems like a simple tale about kids hanging out. But then he starts peeling back layers, revealing family secrets, hidden struggles, and those quiet moments of grace that make his writing so special. The way he weaves their stories together feels like magic – if magic wore worn-out sneakers and shopped at IKEA.

The characters? They'll break your heart, make you laugh, and remind you of people you know. There's nothing superhuman about them – they're just regular kids dealing with irregular problems. But it's their very ordinariness that makes them extraordinary. Backman has this uncanny ability to make you care deeply about people who don't exist.

Sure, parts of the book are tough to read. The abuse scenes aren't graphic, but they'll make your stomach clench. And yes, sometimes you'll need to flip back a few pages to follow the timeline. But that's life. Messy, nonlinear, and sometimes hard to follow.

What makes this book special isn't just the story—it's how it makes you feel. You'll think about your friendships, those summer nights that seemed to last forever, and the people who held you together when everything else was falling apart. It's about how a simple act of kindness can echo through decades, touching lives you'll never know about.

If you're new to Backman, welcome to the club. If you're already a fan, you're in for another treat. My Friends isn't just a book – it's a reminder that we're all connected in ways we can't even imagine. And sometimes, that's exactly what we need to remember.

Rating: 4.5/5