My Friends by Fredrik Backman is nothing short of a masterpiece. It showcases the author's keen ability to capture the bittersweetness of being human; the poignancy, anguish, anger, disappointment, fear, hope, laughter, love, sheer joy and all of the other emotions which come with it. Readers across the globe will once again find themselves mesmerized by the heartwarming and heartbreaking tale Backman has placed within these pages and by the memorable characters he has created.

This is a book you deserve to experience, and I hope you do. Be prepared to laugh, to cry, to marvel at the wisdom contained here, and to be stopped in your tracks by the power of this novel. It's a read that has imprinted itself on me. I won't forget it, and I'm betting you won't be too many pages into it before you begin to feel the same way. It deserves so much more than a five-star review!

Thanks to this gifted author who continues to share his talent with us. Thanks too to Atria Books for allowing me to read a DRC of the novel via NetGalley. Publication is 5/6/25. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

Fredrik Backman has become an auto-buy author for me, so I was extra excited for this ARC. I love the way he writes and captures people, which is true for this one as well.

The only possession she’s had her entire life, through every foster home, is a postcard replica of her favorite painting. “My Friends” follows Ted and Louisa’s unusual friendship as Ted describes the stories of his friend group that led up to the creation of Louisa’s favorite painting — created by Ted’s late best friend.

This novel captures all of the human emotions and how massive they feel at 14: being a kid, finding your place in the world, first loves (platonic and romantic), hating your parents and never wanting to be like them, yet are fiercely loyal to, and how friendship, even at a young age shapes the way you see yourself and the world well into adulthood.
There’s so many quotes I loved from this one 🥹 thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I loved it. My ARC (Thank you @atria and @simon) is brimming with tabs to mark passage after passage that I wanted to remember. Some of which I captured in my reading journal (scroll)

If I could only read one author for the rest of my life it would be Fredrik Backman. His writing always speaks to me on a deep level. He takes these seemingly normal people living normal lives and subtlety shines a light on the best (and worst) parts of what makes us who we are. His stories and characters make me think about big picture things without feeling like I’m being smothered by them. He delivers depth in such an accessible way. He brings people to life. I am still thinking about these characters and their story.

This story is a somber, sad, and beautifully poignant portrayal of friendship. What other words can I say? Genuine, heartfelt, clumsy, authentic, clever, heartbreaking, funny, emotionally resonant and wholly human.

One of the reasons Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors is his ability to make me laugh, ache with the characters and stop and ponder a quote and think, ‘wow, that was deep,’ all in short succession.

My husband was often confused about what book I was reading, thinking I was switching between books in one sitting, because one minute I’d read him a quote I’d laughed out loud at, and then a few minutes later I’d read him this profound and insightful quote that has broad application and implications. Backman’s characteristic ability to do both well, often on the same page, is what makes his books so enjoyable/fantastic/satisfying.

His metaphors and similes in My Friends are so hilarious. Since I read the book as an ARC, I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to share any, but this is a teaser to get ready to chuckle and wonder how in the world he made those connections.

The characters in My Friends are ones I wish I knew in real life.

It’s not until the end when all the pieces of the story come together. This, at times made me want to skip ahead a little, but I could never let myself do that when reading a book. I often felt like Louisa did as she was learning the story of the friends, I wanted to know the ending, but at the same time I didn’t, because knowing might spoil the reverie of the story.

Backman has done it again. I can’t wait for the next one.

Side note that’s unrelated to this book: follow Backman on Instagram to enjoy his humor outside of the printed word — I always know I’m in for a laugh when I see his posts on my thread.

I’m thrilled I’ll be going to Winston-Salem next month to hear Backman on his book tour.

My many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC. All thoughts, musings and opinions are my own.

My Friends is moving, transformative, and phenomenally profound down to the sentence level.

The story of a bunch of children, separated by time, and how the world time and again proves to be needlessly cruel. Despite the adults failing on ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ esque levels, these kids committed themselves to each other, saw one another deeply, and continuously found reasons to love, uplift, and hope for better days. If some of them couldn’t find the use in doing that for themselves, then they advocated endlessly for the others.

Every paragraph and every page have a highly impactful new punch to deliver. This book is so emotionally dense, yet never heavy. It remains light, and hopeful despite new traumas being revealed around every corner. It explores friendship on the deepest level, and continues to keep readers on their toes as a twenty five year old mystery if unraveled.

Personally, this book held so many surprises for me. As our characters stories interweave throughout the years and mysteries are brought to light, there were always new surprises waiting for me around each bend. It never came to a point where any one character’s ending was obvious or tedious. Every story and reveal had so much behind it and such a genuine reason for being there.

Much like Anxious People, the community built and shared in My Friends will remain in my mind and my heart for life. I cannot recommend a better way to spend your time than to sit with this book. Marinate in every interaction and plot point and turn of phrase, and come out of the other side so much better for it.

My Friends is a masterpiece, possibly the greatest story about friendship and platonic love I have ever read. I don’t know if I can adequately review this book. Trust me, I’ve tried a few times, and nothing I write seems to fully capture the impact this story had on me. I took my time with it, savoring each line, relishing in the heartbreak and the joy.

If I ramble about Backman’s greatness, I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. Fredrik Backman is, without question, my favorite author. I never doubted I would love this book. Honestly, he could write the alphabet on a sidewalk, and I’d reread it a dozen times, cry over how profound it is, and recommend it to everyone I know.

Backman understands the human condition better than any writer I’ve ever read. He has an uncanny ability to completely break your heart and then gently, patiently piece it back together. He writes about trauma with honesty and weight but never forgets to thread in humor, joy, and hope. My Friends is no exception. I laughed as much as I cried, and I cried a lot. This one hit me fast and hard, emotionally speaking, and it might just be my favorite of all his works. (Although… I probably need to reread them all just to be sure. 😉)

As with all of Backman’s books, I believe it’s best to go in blindly, or with as little knowledge as possible. He unfolds his stories in a deliberate, layered way, and the less you know, the more powerful the experience becomes. So, I will be vague in my details.

At its heart My Friends is about love, trust, friendship, and family - the kind you’re born into and the kind you find along the way - and a piece of art that binds it all together. It’s a story about how the people who shape us never leave us.

Told in dual timelines, the novel follows four friends, including Ted, during the last summer of their adolescence, when the world feels both impossibly big and heartbreakingly fragile, and then picks up again 25 years later when Louisa is thrust into Ted’s life.

Ted carries the weight of the past into the present, and through him, we begin to understand what was lost, and what might still be saved. His grief is palpable, and yet he moves through the world with a quiet, steady love that makes every interaction meaningful. Louisa meets him in that space - with her grief and questions - together, they create a tender and honest connection. One that is a beautiful mix of playful banter and deep, vulnerable conversations.

I loved this book with my full chest. It’s a story that stays with you - quietly, powerfully, and forever.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

FREDRIK BACKMAN CAN DO NO WRONG THIS BOOK IS PERFECT END OF STORY.

Backman's prose is so simple yet so evocative. There's something he just GETS about what it's like to be a human. He explores humanity in such a beautiful and tender way, I cried multiple times during the reading experience and I loved every moment of it.

This book! Wow! Pick this book up for the amazing characters and the twisty plot, but savor this for the writing. So many lines worth highlighting and reflecting on. Just amazing, a roller coaster of an experience and a ride well worth taking. While reading this I thought how lucky I am to share the same planet at Fredrik Backman. A treasure of a book. If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Zevin I would bet you would enjoy this too.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy.

**Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

My Friends is a story about love, but it is not your typical love story. It’s about a love between friends that can only exist in the summer when you’re fourteen, a love that is so powerful that it can still affect a young artist’s life 25 years later.

Louisa has spent most of her life in and out of foster homes, but the day before her 18th birthday, she meets someone who will alter the course of her life forever: an artist, the one who painted the picture depicting three friends by the sea 25 years ago. This encounter sets off a series of events where we meet Ted, one of the friends, and learn all about how the painting came to be.

Backman’s ability to make me laugh one moment and cry the next is unparalleled, and My Friends is no exception. Louisa was some much needed comic relief in a story that often felt very heavy.

This book was like constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the shoe was never what I expected and was often anticlimactic. Sometimes, the story also felt a little disjointed and repetitive, but overall I really enjoyed it.

What a beautiful story about childhood friendships and the ways they define the rest of your life. As always, fredrik backmans writing is so unbelievable. He writes things that everyone has thought but nobody has been able to put into words before and he does it so beautifully. His writing is just so unlike anything I’ve ever read. It honestly took me a really long time to be interested in the story and the characters but by the end it genuinely felt like they were all an extension of my heart. I love them!!! I will think about them always, the last couple chapters made me sob. Thank you netgalley for the early copy :)

I don't think there are adequate words to describe the feeling I had when I saw that I was approved for an advanced copy of Fredrik Backman's new book. Though I've only read about half of his bibliography, he is one of my all-time favorite writers. The way he balances humor and heartbreak, light and darkness, the good faces of humanity and its more sinister counterparts is frankly remarkable. My Friends is no exception. While Beartown (which is, quite frankly, a masterpiece) uses beautifully dynamic characters to tell the story of an entire town and their reaction to an event, My Friends relies almost exclusively on its characters to dig deep into the themes of art and friendship.

The simple premise of the story is a young delinquent artist with nothing in the world except what she can carry on her own back is bequeathed a priceless painting after a chance-encounter with the world-famous artist who painted it. On the long journey to sell it to an art dealer, she learns the story of the three figures in the distance of the piece. But the beauty of a Backman book is not in the premise, is it? It's in the flawless execution of character and the interwoven interactions between them.

This is a story about friendship. Specifically, the steadfast kind of friendship you form in your young years that makes an impression on the rest of your life. They don't always last forever, but the memories do, so much so you can close your eyes and almost smell them. It's a story about hardship, and adversity, and our reaction toward it. It's the story of being different and realizing that sometimes that's okay. It's the story of recognizing a secret piece of yourself in someone else, and the everlasting bond that can forge. It's about brotherhood, and sticking together, and a little bit of violence.

It's also about art. Something many can and frequently do call frivolous and unnecessary, but speaks to each of us in our secret souls. No one can deny the effect of 'good' art (this is absolutely a different thing for different people, but that's a discussion for another time and place). Good art is impossible to ignore. It stops us in our tracks. Overwhelms us to the point of tears, sometimes, and goosebumps dimpling our skin. It lingers with us, preoccupies us, moves us, and sometimes catalyzes us to change.

I am always bowled over by Fredrik Backman's writing, and though this novel is a bit grittier than some of his other work, it is about a raw and meaningful side of humanity it is sometimes too easy to look away from. It's important to see and understand the hardships of young people, in particular. It's important to listen.

I hope this is not the last book he decides to write, as I've seen him consider. With a gift like his, the world is a little bit brighter with every sentence he writes. (Even his social media captions enthrall me, if we want to get to the truth). Thank you, Atria, for the opportunity to read this novel before it is released to the rest of the world. It is a privilege, and I hope this review finds at least one person it might inspire to read it.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! Fredrik Backman writes life and love and grief like no one else! This book hits all the feels...I laughed, I cried, I want to read it all over again! Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC! I loved it!

“When you’re fourteen years old, friendship and infatuation are the same feeling, light from the same star, so perhaps there ought to be a better word for it. But how do I explain that I’m freezing to death if I’m not seen by you?”

I might be incapable of rating a Fredrick Backman book anything less than 5 stars. I made an embarrassing amount of highlights while reading this book. But it’s actually really hard to review it without spoiling it. I went through a lot of emotions reading this, there were some tears, but mainly I smiled and laughed a lot. Backman has a way with words like no one else for me, just following him on Instagram feels like a special treat.

This is a book about friendships, losses and kindred spirits. I will carry Louisa, Ted, the Artist, Ali and Joar in my heart for a long time. The felt real to me and I am grateful for them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books & the author Fredrick Backman for the advanced reading copy, all my opinions are my own.

I had to sit with my feelings for a few days before reviewing this book, and even still, I feel like I'm at a loss for words. What a gorgeous portrayal of friendship, love, loss, and the beauty of art and human connection. I adored Backman's writing as I always do. The characters and their stories reached the depths of my humanity. I was so moved at the tapestry Backman wove of the artist, Louisa, Ted, Joar, and other characters 🤍 I loved how interconnected everyone was to one another and how to story continued to progress. I felt so validated in each of the characters - each of them made me feel so seen in my own journey and emotions. I love, love, love this book, and I hope you do too when you read it 🤍

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is full of so many quotable lines and wonderful characters. I just adored the group of teens, who have experienced too many hardships, living their best lives during a summer as fourteen year olds.

When Joar spots an art contest in the newspaper he sees this as an out for one of his dear friends to leave this town. So begin the hijinks of how to obtain art supplies, support his friend, and make him famous. The novel jumps back and forth between the summer the teens were 14 and present when the now famous artist has spotted a new talent.

Written in typical Backman fashion, there is deep emotion but also humour supporting each moment. The importance of art in life and how it is life runs through the story. Backman also loves to draw the reader in one direction only to show how you made some assumptions about how the story would go. He is an original talent that I so appreciate.

Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinions. My Friends publishes May 6, 2025.

It took me a while to get through this book but I didn’t feel that I needed to rush through - that once I picked it up again I could be transported right back into the world Backman has created.

I think what resonates with me most is that the writing captures the heartbreaks and small joys of everyday life. The characters are beautifully flawed and wonderfully human, each carrying their own burdens, yet finding connection - making you feel like these characters are your own friends-people you want to hug, cry with, and cheer for! Backman also has a signature knack for balancing emotional weight with laugh-out-loud humor (I was rolling at the tampon conversation)!

If you’ve ever felt like an outsider, if you’ve ever longed for belonging, this book will speak to you. It’s a beautiful reminder that friendship can be found in the most unlikely of places, and that everyone is carrying a story worth listening to.

My Friends is a love letter to art, artists, and the messy, beautiful realities of being human. It’s a story that slowly builds its way into your heart, and by the final page, you won’t be ready to say goodbye.

Backman, one of my all-time favorite authors, has outdone himself here. While the book starts a little slow, it blossoms into what might just be my favorite of his novels. Through stunning prose and unforgettable characters, he paints a portrait of what the world might call “misfits”—but what I’d call a chosen family.

At its core, this is a reflection on addiction, friendship, and the complexity of families. Families are rarely simple, and sometimes it’s our friends who offer the deepest, truest kind of love. The relationships in this book are raw, real, and often hilarious—some of the dialogue had me laughing out loud—yet they’re also steeped in grief, growth, and hope.

Backman has a way of reminding us how hard it can be to be human. But through every heartbreak, he also reminds us how worth it it is. Get the tissues ready—this one will break your heart and put it back together again.

Backman writes, I read.
I’m obsessed.
This man’s writing is one of my favorite things ever and I will be forever grateful when I get early copies of his books.

My Friends is captivating from the start, following a group of friends who grew up together and their trials and tribulations as they get older and merge into adulthood. It's fascinating to hear about them, and the way Backman writes about them, you get details about each one, but there are still mysteries you don't solve until the end. Amazing as always. If I could give this 6 stars, I would.

Thank you, Atria and NetGalley for the advanced copy. I love you and I trust you!

My Friends is a coming of age novel that brings all the feels. It reflects on a group of four kids with sorted family lives at 14 years old from the perspective of an adult, 25 years later. This book takes you on the journey of what happens to them that causes them to go their separate ways, and in some cases, come back together.

The story takes place around the sale of a painting by a famous artist. A homeless 18-year-old named Louisa is gifted the painting, and in turn, she learns the story of the four friends that made the painting happen. She not only learns what happened to them, she becomes part of the story, and their future.

This book was a slow start for me, but once I got attached to the characters I could not stop reading it. The author writes the characters so well you almost feel like you know them. The story will leave you wanting more.