Every once in a while, a book comes along and takes hold of your mind and heart. My Friends by Fredrik Backman has done that to me. This book tops the list as my favorite Backman novel. It's still early in the year, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the best book I read this year. If you couldn't tell, I loved it. I am not sure there's an author out there who writes such real and complex characters the way Fredrik Backman does. Everything just worked with My Friends. The dual timeline, likable characters, unlikely friendship, pacing of the story, heartfelt and funny. It's a story you want to race through, but also read slowly to savor it. Well done. Happy Publication Day to @backmansk!

It was a pleasure and an honor to read an advanced digital copy. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher.

Fredrik Backman writes like an irreverent Mr. Rogers for grown-ups.

His author’s voice speaks directly to our inner misfit:
“Think you’re a misfit that life has stomped on? Welcome to the neighborhood. We’re all underdogs here, so make yourself at home.”

If you’re looking for a linear storyline, My Friends isn’t it. The story goes forwards, backwards, sideways, slips into offshoot corners, then boomerangs back.

Backman paints the story like a mural. At its center: the raw coming-of-age backstory of a world-famous artist and his three misfit friends; and the struggling 18-year-old girl who becomes integral to their story 25 years later. The mural also includes pops of side scenes and characters. Whether they’re enhancements or distractions is in the eye of the beholder.

Backman wraps even life’s hardest moments in the comfort of a Mr. Rogers cardigan sweater...with the unexpected humor of a whoopie cushion tucked in the pocket. It’s a beautiful day in his underdog neighborhood.

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

Thank you Atria for giving me early access to this beautiful book (even if I am delayed in reading it). Fredrick Backman is an interesting writer. He has a unique style that can be a little complicated to engage with at first. However, it’s this style of writing that somehow makes is books so beautiful. This was no exception.

My Friends is a story of chosen family and the friendships that leave a mark on your heart no matter how many years or miles separate you. It’s about our memories and the way that simple moments or masterful paintings can equally change you. In this story, one lost friend, Louisa, unexpectedly finds her way to the friends that inspired her most beloved painting. It’s through their stories that she learns that life is full of heartbreak and resilience and her own is just beginning.

I knew from the first few chapters that this book had the potential to break my heart and I was right. It took me some time to get back into the groove with Backman’s writing style but once I did my heart connected deeply with the characters. I found that each character was described with such diligence that I could clearly picture them and hear their voices. I think the frequent mentioning of farts was an odd choice but it somehow feels in line with the author. For a book that was very character driven, there was enough plot that I stayed engaged and can say it live up to all the expectations that were laid out for it. I can’t give it a 5 star rating because it felt like something was still missing that would keep it in my mind for weeks to come and all of my top books can do just that. Solid 4-4.5 stars.

I don’t know how he does it. Quirky, hilarious, weird, sad and hopeful. Backman just doesn’t miss!


If you liked Anxious People and Beartown, you will surely enjoyed the latest FB book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Backman is one of my favorite authors and when I received an ARC for this I couldn't wait to get right into it. The tone of this book feels different than his others, maybe a little more mellow and reflective. I didn't cry(which is shocking) but I did feel "down" while reading it, not the whole time because there IS happiness in this book and it's a great story on friendship and growing older, the unfairness of life, and now there is joy even in difficult times.

This is a love story to friendship, to the summers spent roaming the neighborhood with friends, to art, and how art can portray deep feelings and emotions that aren’t always able to be spoken aloud. It’s also the story of a long journey to find home, that is made longer by crazy circumstances (life). It’s a story about the past being told while the present is writing its own story! It’s about connections that can’t always be explained, but you just know, “they’re one of us!”

If you’ve read any of Fredrik Backman’s books before you know they are heavily character based. There’s a lot of storytelling of one character’s childhood with periods of current thrown in. It can make it feel like the story is plodding along, but if you hang on for the ride, you won’t be disappointed. This isn’t my favorite of his, but I do like Backman’s insight into people.

It was published earlier this month, so go out and grab a copy and some of his others too!
Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
#NetGalley #MyFriends

This year has been a chaotic one for me: in addition to being super busy at work, I’ve also had some family issues I had to take care of, plus my own health issues I had to attend to – on top of all that, I’m on the final stretch of my Master’s degree journey, taking several classes all at once so I can finish in time to graduate in September. With so much going on, my “leisure” reading life has unfortunately taken a hit, resulting in me falling behind on my reading goals. While I have been able to squeeze in a few books here and there, I haven’t been able to read as much as I would like. With that said however, I hope to be back in full force come September, as I will be done with school and everything else should be sorted out by then.

Now even though I’ve been so busy, that has not stopped me from making time to read the latest novel from one of my all-time favorite authors, Fredrik Backman. Yes, Backman has another book out (released this month, in fact) called My Friends and it is SPECTACTULAR! I honestly don’t have words to express how much I love this book (though I guess the fact that I got 4 different versions of this book – including a signed version!!! -- is proof enough?)

As is the case with all of Backman’s novels, this one is absolutely an emotional roller coaster where I found myself laughing hysterically one minute and bawling like a baby the next. In his signature style, Backman takes us on a poignant, heartfelt journey of 4 teenaged friends who form an unbreakable bond so deep and powerful that it ends up changing the life of a complete stranger 25 years later. In all of Backman’s novels, the emotional core of the story lies in the characters, all of whom are tremendously flawed, with lives that are messy and oftentimes dysfunctional, yet you can’t help falling in love with them and rooting for them regardless of what happens. I don’t know how he does it, but with all his characters, Backman is always able to capture the essence of what it means to be human, and portray human relationships in a way that resonates deeply and emotionally. To me, his characters are always so real and yes, always, always unforgettable!

Those who are familiar with Backman’s style already know that this will be a story that is at once heartwarming yet also heart-wrenching. In this story, there is sadness and pain, violence and heartbreak, loss and suffering, yet there is also hope and healing, resilience and redemption, humor and warmth, and yes, loads of laughter and love.

If you believe in finding hope even in the face of loss and suffering, if you believe in finding humor in the most unexpected of places, if you believe in the transformative power of art to connect people across generations, but most of all, if you believe in the ability of deep and unwavering friendship to heal wounds and transcend the worst impulses of human behavior, then you need to pick up this book. Read this one with an open heart, but also have a box of Kleenex by your side because you will definitely need it!

Received ARC from Atria Books via NetGalley.

Coming of age story and nostalgic at the same time, this book is a MUST read. It had me laughing and crying. Reminded me somewhat of the feeling of Stand by Me. Definitely the best book I have read so far this year. The story and these characters will stay with me for a long time. Loved it! Thank you @netgalley for the ARC

An absolutely beautifully written story. I am seriously out of words. I was really impressed by this book and how the author delivers the story. The story is packed with sensitive/ important subjects which can be difficult to address, but you can tell that the author handles them with care. There’s just something about the way the story is written that is so captivating and impactful. While this is fiction there is just something so real and relatable in the characters that allows the reader to form a deep connection with the book. Some might think the story starts slow but I think there’s a purpose to it. I beg you o push through if you find it slow.. It was seriously an emotional rollercoaster but one worth riding.I will absolutely recommending this to everyone

What a great gift friendship is—for everybody but especially for teenagers in their formative years, when they search for understanding and acceptance, trying to find themselves and moving between excitement and depression, often in a single day. Fredrik Backman’s “My Friends” is a book about friendship that helps them accept that being different is okay.

Imagine a picture – later hung as a masterpiece in a museum – of three teenagers sitting on a pier, the blue water, a sunny day, and a feeling of lightness and beauty in the surrounding air.  This moment was caught in time by one of the teenagers who, although not painted in the picture, felt like he was all around his friends. He painted the moment and the feeling. This was his gift to his friends and later to the world as the first painting of a famous artist.

The story is told in two timelines: first, it is a memory of one’s youth, but it’s far from idyllic. There is domestic abuse and cruelty, and yet the evil is not met with more evil but with finding refuge in friendship.  Then we move to the present time when the teenagers become adults, and one of them, Ted, tells their story to Louisa, a free-spirited, troublesome foster child, now an eighteen-year-old girl who is very much at the beginning of her road as an artist. During their train ride, Louisa learns about Joar, Ali, Ted, and Kimkim, the artist, and it seems like summer has come back now in the quiet interior of the train, with the famous picture resting on the seat.

It’s also a book about art, its meaning, and how it can save people. The initial encouragement given to Kimkim by his friend, Joar, saves the artist (this is the name we hear about Kimkim first), but later results in a chain reaction – the artist meets Louisa, who is “one of us,” as he says. Later, Louisa meets another budding artist teenager, and the story repeats as the next ripple on the water that four teenagers had looked at years earlier.  Ultimately, Ted’s story has a significant impact, and the gifts of friendship and art are joined by a gift of storytelling – something that Ted and the book author, Fredrik Backman, possess in abundance.

Wow. I loved this from the very first paragraph. This is a story of friendship, grief, the beauty of art, what it means to be human…and yes, fart jokes. I adored all of the characters, and each of their stories felt interesting and impactful. The clever humor and quips that are signature to Fredrik’s writing are all here. My favorite audiobook narrator, Maren Ireland, narrates this one and was, as usual, fantastic. I kept pausing the audio to go back to my hard copy just to tab and underline quotes I wanted to remember. One of my favorite books of 2025!

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is another heartwarming, sharply observant story that hits you right in the feelings. It’s a story about connection, memory, and the quiet power of friendship, told with Backman’s signature mix of humor and heartbreak. The characters feel like real people, flawed but lovable, and their emotional journeys sneak up on you in the best way. If you enjoy stories that make you laugh and tear up in the same chapter, this one’s worth picking up!

It’s my favorite book this year, and nothing else has come close to it. It’s about friends who meet one summer as teenagers and spend time together, but then they grow up and aren’t as close anymore — at least, that’s what it seems at first.

It was so emotional reading and discovering what happened in the past. I also learned about another friendship that ended and one that started. It’s hard not to spoil, but I’ll say this: the characters were so well-detailed that I wanted to hug them all. I wanted to fight for them. I cried, I laughed, and I felt everything. I wanted to fight for them when they were struggling. The way the story unfolded made me feel so much. It made me realize how life can be so unfair, but also how beautiful it is with all the small things we get and the love we experience.

This book made me think a lot about life — how unfair it can be, but also how beautiful it is. The small things we get and the love we experience are so precious. It reminded me of how important our friendships are, and how they can change over time, sometimes without us even realizing it.

I usually love Fredrik Backman's writing and his unique look at people, places, and his witty remarks about everyday life; his characters leap off the page and find a way into your heart. This had all of those things but it fell short in that I could not connect with any of these characters. The jump between different timelines created a disjointed narrative that I found difficult to follow and I ultimately gave up on this one, which made me sad. It may be because it has so much to do with art and artists and, while I appreciate those things, I don't really make the connection with artists so this just wasn't for me.

Backman does it again. I will read anything he writes because his books leave me shattered but healed every time. My Friends is an exploration of love, friendship, grief, and art, so really it is about humanity and learning to be a human. The characters are complex and quickly yet so real that I cried for each of them, in sadness and joy, at some point throughout the book. Another beautiful work from one of my favorite contemporary authors.

This book was a deeply moving and heartfelt read. The characters felt incredibly real—each one carrying their own burdens and emotional wounds, yet finding strength and healing in the most unexpected ways. Their stories made me pause and reflect on the quiet resilience people carry through trauma. What stood out most was how heartwarming the relationships between them were—tender, honest, and beautifully human. The ending was everything I hoped for: satisfying without being overly neat, and filled with a quiet sense of hope. A truly touching read that stayed with me long after the last page.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

After the death of a world famous artist, his first ever painting is given to a homeless runaway teenager named Louisa. When Louisa is given the painting by the artist’s close friend Ted, she asks Ted for the backstory of the painting- who are the kids in the painting and where did they come from? With that, Ted tells the story of the artist’s childhood, and the group of friends from a rough small town that pushed the artist into world renowned success.

Backman is extremely talented at highlighting the beauty and simultaneous cruelty that exist within humanity. I am always so impressed by the care and compassion he brings to oftentimes dark subject matter. I would recommend his books to any reader- his writing is beautiful, yet easily digestible! Will continue to lookout for future works from him. 🎨🌊

I waffled between giving this book three and four stars because occasionally I find Backman's writing style almost unbearably schmaltzy and overwrought, but the narrative picked up a lot in the back half and didn't feel as overbearing, so four stars it is. Louisa is an aspiring artist who becomes obsessed with a famous painting of the sea with three kids in the background. By chance, she meets one of those kids (obviously now grown up), and they embark on a weird journey (hard to explain without spoilers). Along the way, Louisa learns the story of those kids, and of course she learns a lot about herself.

It's intriguing that Backman always chooses to write about people with unimaginable trauma - in this book alone, we've got characters who've experienced domestic abuse, homophobia, sexual assault, losing parents, losing friends, addiction, and much more. On the one hand, it's clear Backman views his characters with great empathy and compassion, but on the other hand, sometimes his books read as clunky and like he's never experienced any of those traumas himself. I don't believe authors need to have experienced the things they write about to do them justice, but sometimes there's something about Backman's writing that feels slightly voyeuristic or tokenizing. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but in the beginning of the book I just didn't feel connected to any of the characters. It also took a while for the plot to really pick up.

Of course as I've written this I've talked myself into giving this three stars. This book just felt a bit too cliche for me, and it dragged. I seem to be in the minority in my view of this book though, so take my words with a grain of salt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

Frederick Bachman is a master at telling stories. This books follows the life and times of four friends as told by Ted, one of the friends.

It is an excellent reminder that, if you are lucky, the friends you have when you are younger stay with you your entire life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC for my honest opinion. Definitely a must read!

Another amazing read by Fredrik Backman full of quirky characters who feel so real. This book has a lot to unpack and all the emotions. I was fortunate to see the author in Dallas this week and it was very enlightening.