I don't know if I'll ever get over how absolutely incredible this book is. This was a story and these are characters that are going to sit with me forever. It has changed the way I will look at art, not to mention the whole human experience.
I have never cried so hard while reading a book, and I loved it.
Fredrik Backman has such an incredible way of writing that gives you such a deep understanding of these characters, while also maybe giving you a better understanding of yourself.

If you've read Fredrik Backman before, you know you're in for a good time here.

It has his signature quirky style and incredible depth with an ending that's not too perfect and not too sad, just full of warmth and makes you feel good.

Plot summary: Lousia runs away from foster care the day before her 18th birthday. She chances upon who she thinks is a homeless person near an art auction, and the interaction changes her life. She ends up finding out the story behind a famous painting she's wanted to see all her life and becomes intertwined with the artist's life. It's told in the present with flashbacks to the artist's life story.

That's a brief summary, but it's so worth it not to know too much going in.

This explores many themes, including parent-child relationships, art and beauty, love and friendship, and more. From the title, though, you know already that friendship underpins the story.

There are parts that are hilarious and parts that are so disturbing they're hard to read.

As interesting as it was, toward the middle it became repetitive and lost me a little.

3.5 stars rounded up, but I'm definitely an outlier.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Fredrik Backman for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

What an absolute gift this book is. I feel so lucky to have read it. You know the feeling when you’re reading a book and just know it’s gorgeous? I felt this throughout the entire book. The way the book was written was just so unique. I loved everything about this book, and this story and characters will stay with me for a long time.

“Art is empathy” 5 SHINING STARS

This story was a beautiful a vulnerable love letter to art, grief, friendship & found family. Fredrik Backman has a gift in his ability to write about grief, love, and human emotions. You will fall in love with this group of friends while also feeling their emotions deeply. It was the perfect balance of quirky humor and powerful emotions. It felt so incredibly human yet magical. It was a reminder to hold on to your dreams and pour into to friendships. I felt like I was part of that friend group cheering on the artist. There were so many impactful quotes, this is a story I think so many will find something they love.

“ I love you, I trust you”

The biggest thanks to @netgalley & atria for the eARC

my friends by left me completely breathless. I loved this story so much. It helped me realize how precious life really is and just how much the people in our lives shape us. I cried and I laughed. I felt seen and understood in all the different characters. I loved how hope was woven into all the difficult moments somehow and how deeply rooted the love was between all of them. I also couldn’t help but see glimpses of characters from his other stories. I especially loved the dynamic between Louisa and Ted and how he told her the story. One of the top books of the year for me 🥹

Another A+ read from Backman sure to be a widely-loved hit like all his others. Wonderful characters and a deeply human, heartwarming and propulsive story.

Fredrick Backman indeed can make me cry laugh and scream all at the same time. I just have residual feelings about his writing going into all of his books that I am immediately moved

I love Fredrik Backman and everything he’s ever wrote. I was SO excited to be approved to read his newest book early and it was just as great as I hoped. This book made me laugh and made me cry. It was heartbreaking and beautiful. Such a moving story about friendship and love.

A young woman who is alone in the world has a chance encounter with a famous painter, at an occasion where his very famous painting is being auctioned off. She just wants to ss the painting up close, because it has meant a lot to her in her short life. The story follows the young woman, Louisa, as after the passing of the painter, she travels with his lifelong friend, Ted, back to their hometown.

Through the journey, Louisa hears the story of the painting, the artist, his friends and how they all came together twenty-five years ago. It is in turns funny and heartbreaking, with an examination of friendship, family, art, and fart jokes along the way.

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

This is my first Fredrik Backman book and now I need to go back and read the others. He seems to really get people, and I loved this.

This is a story about art, friendship, and the connections that shape us. Twenty-five years ago, four teenagers formed an unbreakable bond. One of them became a famous artist, and his first painting would go on to change lives, including Louisa’s. At 18, newly out of the foster system and she unexpectedly inherits this painting, leading her on a journey with one of the artist’s oldest friends, Ted, back to the town where it all began.

Backman’s writing was great—his characters feel so viscerally real, and have a very human need to belong. I felt a ton of emotions reading this, but was glad I had looked up trigger warnings in advance - they are useful here.

Highly recommended.

This was by far my most anticipated book of 2025, to the extent that I could not wait and made this my first read of 2025. I was not disappointed. Fredrik Backman just has a way with characters. They are always so real, and raw, and you just want to befriend them and help them/befriend them.

This book took me through all of the emotions.
I laughed:
"The birds are like tourists. They screech and make a mess, but you're not allowed to shoot them..."
I cried:
"Life is long, his friend had said in the hospital, but he didn't mention the fact that almost every moment hurts when you have to live it alone"
I related:
"Ted and Ted's brain are not friends, they're classmates forced to do a group assignment called "life" together. And its not going great"
I pondered the meaning of life:
"Isn't it like, totally unbelievable that we even exist? So it won't be a tragedy when we don't exist anymore! It's just cool, really cool, that we happened at all"
I highlighted more than I've ever highlighted before because so much just spoke to me. The fact that Backman can write so many emotions and do them all so well is a testament to his talent and how much of himself he puts into his books and his characters.

I was sad when I finished because I wasn't ready to leave My Friends behind, but I fully intend to snag this audio and hardcover on pub day to go through it all again.

As one of Fredrik Backman’s biggest fans, I was beyond excited to dive into the ARC of My Friends, and it did not disappoint. This novel is a heartfelt, beautiful homage to the lasting power of childhood friendships and the transformative magic of art. The story follows Louisa, an aspiring artist, as she embarks on a journey to uncover the mysterious past behind a painting that features three figures sitting on a pier- a painting that will change her life in unexpected ways.

Backman masterfully weaves a narrative that spans across time, blending Louisa’s search for answers with a poignant story about four teenagers who, years earlier, found refuge from their troubled lives in one another and the small, rebellious acts that formed their unbreakable bond. The painting that emerges from their friendship becomes a symbol of love, loss, and the enduring power of connection.

As always, Backman’s writing is nothing short of enchanting. His characters come alive on the page, and the emotions they evoke are raw and unfiltered. My Friends explores not only the beauty of friendship but the painful yet redemptive impact of grief and love in all its forms: between friends, lovers, and family. Backman’s gift for capturing these universal truths, paired with his unique ability to make you laugh and cry in equal measure, makes this novel a true masterpiece.

The pacing of the story is mesmerizing, pulling you deeper into the world of these characters, and by the end, you find yourself carrying a piece of their journey with you. My Friends isn’t just a book about a painting; it’s a story about the people and moments that shape us and leave a lasting imprint on our hearts.

If you’re a fan of Backman’s work, you’ll find My Friends to be yet another testament to his brilliant storytelling. This novel is one that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page, an unforgettable, timeless tale of love, art, and friendship.

I This book has everything I enjoy from Fredrik Backman - quirky characters, emotional connections, and humor. The story is told in roughly two timelines and though the structure can be a bit of a challenge, it works well overall. This novel is full of nostalgia without becoming obnoxiously sentimental. A wonderful tale of the power of friendship and chosen family.

Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors and I was so excited to not only receive an advanced copy through Netgalley, but also won a GoodReads giveaway for a free copy of the physical book!

Backman is a uniquely talented writer- I feel like I could tell this was him, if I didn't know the author ahead of time.

My Friends is a dual timeline about a famous painter and his friends when they were young teenagers, about the first painting that he created and ultimately brought him fame, and then about Louisa in the present day, who gets gifted the painting upon his death.

This was definitely heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. I loved the topics it touched on: grief, substance abuse, domestic abuse, the foster system, and the power of friendships. The characters were very real to me, and there were parts that brought me to tears.

The time spent in the friends teenage years were full of nostaligia, and was definitely my favorite setting.

The story was slow paced- and I found it took awhile to get into and not something I wanted to rush through. I found the same with BearTown- where you almost had to power through the first bit until you were invested in the characters.
The plot left me with many questions- no spoilers so I won't get into specifics, but some of the plot didn’t necessarily work for me. I wanted more on what made the painter famous- those in between years and had a lot of questions left on Louisa.

I wish all of the friends weren't named in the synopsis, as I feel it would have had more surprise factor while reading (the entrance of the last friend)
There were many foreshadowing instances- so many that I didn't necessarily enjoy as it was overused a bit.
Overall I WOULD recommend this book, but it's not my favorite of his. Still an easy 4 stars from me that I think most people will enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for the advanced copy. This title releases May 6th!

Fredrik just tells the most page turning stories that leave you wanting to know more and sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see where the story is going. My Friends is exactly that, you will start this and not want to put it down! The characters while flawed are so loveable and you truly feel attached to their livelihood and root and cry for them. The found family?! ADORED IT! One of my favourite things about Fredriks storytelling is his way of brining together unlikely characters and having them naturally finding a home in each other. The pacing was incredibly well done and at no point do you find yourself wishing it was your over , if anything you finish this book wishing you could read more about the characters! Highly recommend!

If you crave more heartwarming, gut-wrenching stories with quirky characters that have a chip on their shoulder, My Friends certainly delivers. This time around, we meet an unlikely pair - eighteen-year-old Louisa, a former foster child who grieves the loss of her her best friend Fish, and Ted, a thirty-nine-year-old frightened former teacher that grieves the loss of his best friend ("the artist"). Over time, Ted explains to Louisa the story behind his circle of friends one summer that led to the creation of a painting that is now world famous.

Like other works of Backman, you'll be riding on an emotional roller coaster as you move through this book. I wouldn't say it's my favorite of his (A Man Called Ove or Beartown still take those top spots for me), but I was eager to learn where the story would go. There were cliff hangers and little twists (some happy, some less so), but it made for an engaging novel. I'll forever look forward to what Backman releases next.

A must read for 2025! Fredrik Backman is genius for again crafting such a gorgeous story! Beautifully written and characters are so delicately, yet thoroughly, developed. The saga plays out in real time with past remembrances woven in to explain how and why the characters are where they are in the current story. Some drama and suspense are thrown in which matters as the cast members have become so real during the tale.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this fabulous book.

T hanks to Netgalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own. So, a friend of mine likes to joke that I’m dead inside bc nothing seems to make me cry-not movies or books, just occasionally real life, and I mean occasionally. But you know what makes me cry? A book by freaking Fredrik Backman. I can’t even tell you how many times I teared up while I was reading this book. Gah. I’m like a real human when I read his work! Louisa is quite a quirky character with a sad story, and she happens to fall in love with a painting by a famous artist with a sad story of his own. As you progress through the book and Louisa’s journey with this art, you learn the story behind the artist and the painting piece by piece with her as one of the artist’s best friends reveals it. There are flashes to the past mixed with the present, and you wonder who has lived to be a part of this present journey. There were enough twists and little snippets that were finally revealed after chapters and chapters of leading up to it to keep me sucked in until the end. It’s as silly at times as it is also achingly beautiful and sad. This honestly might be my favorite book by him now. I couldn’t put it down, and I can’t stop thinking about it. FYI might be triggering with talk of sexual and domestic and substance abuse, profanity

A stunning homage to teenage friendships that endure the trials of life and never die out. Nobody tells a story like Fredrik Backman...his characters leap off the page and take hold of your heart as he weaves their stories, and you're never the same. My Friends was such a beautifully told history of four friends and a painting, but it is so much more than that. Literary perfection!

My Friends is a book full of nostalgia, taking you back to childhood summers with your best friends—when things were perfect even in their imperfections. Sad at times, joyful at others, this book made me feel all the feelings.