My new favorite Fredrik Backman book!!
My Friends is so deeply moving and absolute perfection. This is one I will be continually thinking of and won’t stop recommending, especially for my book friends looking for a great cry. (I cried multiple times! Don’t worry, In true Backman style I also laughed out loud.)

This is a beautifully written novel that captures the complexities of friendship, love, and human connection in a way only Backman can. His characters are flawed, funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once.

My Friends is an absolute must-read. Highly recommend!

Ugh yes.

Fredrik Backman is incredible. And so was this.

The further the story went along the more and more I fell in love with it. It definitely started off slow but Backman is a master at getting you to truly fall in love with his characters and that I did. Honestly this gave me a lot of A Little Life vibes, just without the torture on page.

This was emotional and heartfelt and funny and heartbreaking. You will feel all your feels and want to cry by the end. There was even some shocking turns along the way.

The plot as a whole is very simple but the way that is it done is just so perfect and gives the ability to really focus on this story that the characters are sharing.

A lot of good themes here and found family and just yes. Just YES. That is all.

What can I say about a Fredrik Backman novel that hasn’t already been said? I have loved every one of his that I have read.

I am not going to attempt to give a short synopsis of this book. You can read on online blurb about it in many places.

This beautifully written book is amusing, poignant, heartbreaking, heartwarming. It is about friendship, the joy and pain of friendships and growing up, found family, the nature of art, art as salvation. Backman’s character development is at his best here. There are so many memorable observations and compelling lines….if you are an underliner, you will be kept very busy noting outstanding parts.

Take your time reading and savoring this story and all it says about life. BTW, my husband also read this and said it was the best book he had ever read.

This book is another that just demonstrates why I love this author so much! His ability to describe people and pull you in emotionally is incredible. I loved this book and will forever be a fan.

My Friends is funny, moving and powerful. Fredrick Blackman certainly has a way with words. Great author.

Easily my favorite by Backman yet! It felt really like he perfected his signature mix of whimsy, tenderness, and wisdom with this one. The characters were so vivid with unique quirks of their own and I really loved them all. I laughed out loud and even got teary-eyed at one point. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Fredrik Backman is so adept at creating characters that the reader will fall in love with. I wanted to crawl inside the pages of this book and be a part of the story. Such a lovely novel about the power of friendship.

In true Fredrik Backman style, this book is full of heart and is the epitome of love in all forms. The way he weaves the story together is impressive, as the narrative of the four friends is slowly unraveled to Louisa through Ted.

There were so many profound insights made about friendship, love, and all of life's challenges. Each person has had their own particular brand of adversity, but the way they support and accept each other is a beautiful thing to witness.

The only thing about the book I didn't love were times in which the dialogue seemed overly dramatized, with capitals and exclamation marks when it wasn't necessarily warranted. It may have been a way the author chose to show the difficulties certain characters had in expressing their emotions, but it came off as a bit heavy-handed and juvenile, and it gave the book a less mature voice.

I read most of Backman's other books so I knew going into 'My Friends' that I would love it - and I wasn't wrong! This book made me feel everything - anger on behalf of the friends & Louisa, joy when I laughed out loud along with them, sadness when they had tough situations and even harder decisions. This book made me both relive childhood friendships and reminded me to be a better adult whenever possible.
Thank you so much for the early copy!

4.5 stars
I really struggled to pick this up during the first 60%, even though I was enjoying it as I was reading it. I think it was a case of right book, wrong time. But I flew through the last 40% in about three days. It’s such a beautiful testament to friendship and the bonds we create.
Backman is the master at dropping in quotes and creating such tension leading up to character tragedies because even though you know that something bad is going to happen to a specific character, the way he delivers the blows leading up to the tragedy makes your stomach drop. He writes about the smallest facets of grief so beautifully. The way that he develops his characters is, in my opinion, unmatched by any other author I’ve ever read.
I adored the dynamic between Ted and Louisa, and Joar later, and it was so heartwarming to watch them come out of their shells and become comfortable with each other in such a short amount of time.
He does the found family trope so so well. Of course I cried at the end.

Favorite quotes:
- “Friendship is special when you’re a teenager, you can feel it in your skin when there’s something wrong.”
- “Stories are complicated, memories are merciless, our brains only store a few moments from the best days of our lives, but we remember every second of the worst.”
- “He laughs so hard that summer arrives on the roof, even though it isn’t even May yet.”
- “‘He said that thing you always said, the thing that painter said. That you should paint like the birds sing. But Kimkim said it was never like that for him. He said he painted the way we laugh.”’

Thank you Atria and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

4.75 ⭐️ thank you Netgallery for this wonderful ARC! As always, Fredrik Backman did it again and I will forever continue to read anything he writes. This one was so good. It did take me a while to get through with school or life in general, but I really loved the unique storyline and how it focused more on friendships and found family. It was cool to see it was also generational as it started with C. Jat and the friend group but Louisa got passed the baton. Overall, highly recommend this one once it’s published!!!

2 1/2 stars, rounded down

I did not care for this… it had a “Beartown” vibe to it, and I was not a fan of that series either. I’ve never cared for stories that revolve around teenage angst, and this novel had it in spades.

It had some excellent writing, but not enough to make up for the frequently boring (to me) plot.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a highly anticipated 2025 read for me. Fredrik Backman writes easy to read prose that tugs at the heartstrings. This story focuses on art, friendship and belonging through the unlikely pair of 39-year old Ted and 18-year old Louisa in the present day. The highlight of the novel for me was this developing relationship and buddy comedy. These were the only characters I really felt like I knew in a 3D way and I appreciated the humor in these sections mixed with more substantive dialogue around art and grief. The painting as a plot device also worked really well to draw me into the story and lead to a satisfying conclusion.

I found the childhood memories parts of the novel to be meandering and under edited. The story is otherwise a series of retelling of primarily Ted’s friendships but also Louisa’s backstory. At these chapters best they will remind you of long days spent at the lake as a teen, laughing and hijinks with friends and the fierce loyalty and tenderness that can come with youth friendships. But there is a darkness to every chapter (violence, addiction and death) that eventually dragged the plot down for me. Not because of the content itself, but because the repetitiveness of it wasn’t adding anything new to the plot. It didn’t ever really build the characters more for me—just added more to their surface. Ali added a much needed spark about 1/3 of the way through and I really appreciated the scenes with Ted and his brother.

I’ve been trying to put my finger on why Beartown worked better for me and this one doesn’t. It also didn’t shy away from darkness and explored themes of violence and grappling with identity. However I think it greatly benefited from being a series. Characters were able develop initially in a more pointed story and then the world expanded in subsequent novels. The adult perspectives throughout the Beartown series and in Anxious People also provide a contrast that I think is missing for me here.

Many people already seem to love this one and if you are a fan of his previous work/are in the mood for a bit of a tearjerker I’d recommend checking it out.

really well written book that was really anticipated. i'm so hyped to say that this one is INCREDIBLE! the vibes are immaculate, the story is great, and just... A+. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Absolutely fantastic story, I think my favorite of Backman’s ever. I loved the nostalgia of friendship and youth. Beautiful.

It is always a bit nerve-wracking when one of your favorite authors comes out with a new book because expectations are so high and you don't want to be disappointed. I am happy to report that this book absolutely measures up to the very high bar that I have for Backman. He remains, in my opinion, the finest writer of human nature living today. I can't tell you how many times I went from laughing to crying and back again while reading this book. The characters are wonderful. The deeper currents of the meaning of love, friendship and art run through this amazing story. I can't wait to listen to the audio version too - and then I won't have to try to read words through my tears. This book is for anyone who knows what it is like to find "your people" in this crazy world we all inhabit. Five shiny stars for Backman's latest!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book for review.

4.5 rounded to 5 stars

Four teenagers and one summer that changed everything. Then a painting that emerges 25 years later starts the cycle all over again. It is within that cycle, we the reader, get to know these teens and their lives. The damage adults can do and the friends that help you deal with the life you've been given is explored through some canny storytelling going between now and then.

Louisa is a teen ready to age out of group care and accidentally becomes involved with an apparently homeless man. Or so she thinks. When she becomes entangled with that infamous painting, it leads to a cross country trek where she will learn all about that summer, the sea, and those teens.

I read Backman for his characters and My Friends has no shortage of characters with which to bond with and cry over. But what was a constant and moved me the most in this story is how anxiety is depicted with such accuracy. One beloved character, Ted, is consumed with anxiety and low self-esteem from the earliest mention. He is also one of the teens, now an adult decades later from that last summer of childhood, set on a task he agreed to at the deathbed of the artist.

Friendships, hardships, meanness and love are a truth we all are living. Having a core group of people who love, trust, protect, and accept you is a gift we all want and perhaps the best happy ending we can have. Those are what I expect from a Backman Novel and My Friends was no exception.

Thank you to Atria Books for an early electronic copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

MY FRIENDS is a classic Fredrik Backman story - beautifully written and at turns hilarious, sentimental, achingly sad, and yet somehow still hopeful. The characters and story will stay with you and the tale unravels in a way that delivers surprises and unknowns. Ultimately a satisfying journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review MY FRIENDS.

Fredrik Backman, can you do no wrong? I love you and I trust you. (You'll get this when you read it, which you must).

Backman writes about grief and family and friends like no other. His beautiful words sometimes are so often just perfect for the feeling he is trying to convey. I will forever read everything Backman writes, and this book didn't change my mind about that. I loved the characters- all of them. I loved the quirky premise.

My Friends releases May 6, 2025, and I highly recommend preordering or adding it to your library's holds list right now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors and this book is a perfect example of why. The way he shares a story with such raw and real emotions is unlike any other. This book made me both laugh out loud and sob. It is a testament to art, creativity, life, death, hardships, happiness, grief, and mostly an ode to friendship. Each of the characters is so real and so relatable, but each in different ways. The way this books explores friendships—between children, teens, adults, and spanning generations is so deep and moving. My Friends will be a book that sits with me for awhile and might even be my favorite book of the year, even though it’s only February when I’m reading it. If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. Adored every second of it.