thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced digital copy! I loved this book. My first reading of this author and I really enjoyed it! It brought back memories of my childhood and I resonated with all of the characters. The writing was excellent. I laughed out loud multiple times, which hasn't happened to me in awhile. I loved the quotes and references to art and how life-altering and healing it can be. So much humanity shined through. It was just such an honest and open take on childhood, adulting, and navigating the complexities of growing up, as well as honoring art and it's ability to heal and transport us! I can't say enough about this, it just felt deeply personal and absolutely relatable. I can't wait to recommend this title to readers!

I think this is my favorite Fredrik Backman book. It's a story about friendships, old and new, and the importance of art in today's world. I laughed and cried and reread passages again and again to savor Backman's understanding of human nature. I can't get this story out of my mind.

Thank you, Atria books and Net Galley for an advanced coy of this literary gem.

From the publisher: An unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

My Friends is a rollercoaster, of joy, pain, anxiety, loss, beauty, and most of all friendship. It was so intense at times that I had to set it aside for a bit, and yet, truly, nothing much happens. An adult tells a teenager he has just met about his childhood friends. That’s what this book is about.

And yet that’s totally not what this book is about. Backman excels at making me care about people who would drive me crazy in real life. The author suffers from anxiety and it permeates everything he writes to the point that it makes me as the reader anxious. The focus is on the summer the four young friends were 14. They and the teenager in the present are neglected, abused, bullied, and in pain. They are also talented and loyal. Their friendships are beautiful; their lives are not.

My Friends is also about art, and how powerful and even life saving art can be. Because I know Backman does not spare his characters pain, I was nervous the entire time I was reading the book. There were a couple of true surprises for me. I never know where he is going. Backman drops a lot of hints about what’s coming, and he is good at dropping hints that are accurate and yet deceitful.

Backman is a must-read author for me, and My Friends did not disappoint. Translated works often lose something in the translation. I don’t think that’s the case with Backman. It’s amazing how he phrases things sometimes, like this quote: “Ted evades her gaze like a silverfish beneath a bathroom lamp that’s just been switched on.” (ch. 10 of the advance reader copy) The comparison makes me shudder but also completely understand what’s happening.

I’m not sure I understood the significance of some of the secrets the author kept until the end or near the end. I definitely need to read the book again once it is published, and I hope a movie is in the works.

I do not love the cover; I really wish the cover showed the painting that is a character in the book, but I guess they were afraid they couldn’t do it justice.

I read an advance reader copy of My Friends from NetGalley. It is scheduled to be published on June 17 [and will be available for checkout at the Galesburg Public Library in multiple formats.]

Fredrik Backman’s writing is so strong, rich in emotions and artistic wonder, that the characters felt like old friends. A story about love, grief, hope, and found family amidst tragic circumstances, this book will remind you how we all longed for the enduring childhood friendships like Ted, Joar, the artist, Ali, and Louisa and when you turn the last page, you will miss them as if they, too, were your best friends. Told in gripping brevity and raw honesty, this book will become a favorite, a comparative title readers use when they speak about great friendship stories.

This was my first Backman novel, and I was thoroughly impressed with it. It's a thought-provoking story about friends, family, art, and death. It has humorous and tear-jerking moments. The characters are well-developed, and I enjoyed getting to know Louisa and Ted more as they made their journey. Backman is an excellent writer and navigates the past and present flawlessly. An immensely enjoyable read.

An amazing read, not that I expected it to be anything less. One of my go to authors. Heartwarming, a great tale of friendship and emotional as always. I will always pick up a book with his name on the cover.

I will read anything by Backman! He is a master story teller. Nobody writes flawed and real characters quite like him. My Friends made me laugh, cry, broke my heart and put it back together again. Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC!

This book is not for me, but it had Backman’s usual easy to read and humorous writing style. I think fans of his work will enjoy the new book, even if I don’t think I enjoyed it too much. Would recommend it to my patrons though!

A memorable, very touching about growing up and growing older and eventually wiser. Backmans books are always a great read

A very thought provoking story that links 2 very different lives together. A share interest in a painting link the artist’s friends to a young homeless girl. They both have stories to share and to build together. Quite a bit of humor in this book. So much talk about farts.

I absolutely love Frederik Backmann books! This follows teenagers with close friendship and how their relationship impacts a stranger's life.

Fredrik Backman has been and will always be an immediate read for me. Something about his writing always makes me feel all the feelings and is such a unique reading experience. I know it’s not for everyone, but I encourage everyone to at least read one book just to say you did it and feel the magic.

Backman does such an amazing job of humanizing the hooligans and youths that I get annoyed with scampering around the neighborhood. He makes me feel like they’re all my best friends and I suddenly have so much compassion for them and their stories.

This whole book spans over less than a week, but I feel like Ted and Louisa lives a thousand lives. Backman touches on grief, friendship, found family, belonging, expressing yourself, and sooo many other beautiful themes in these pages.

Synopsis: A girl with no family and a man with the best of friends are forced together on a journey that both propels them toward their future while simultaneously causing them to relive their past.

While these two unlikely companions are polar opposites, they share a mutual admiration for art (and one artist, in particular) and an understanding that friends can turn into family and arrive (and, tragically, exit) our lives when we least expect them (and when we need them most.)

Review: Backman has the ability to serve up the most beautiful, tender moments of life but also the most raw, heart-wrenching, unjust moments, too. This book is no exception.

I couldn't scarf this book down quickly. No, I had to savor it slowly, even though it hurt sometimes. Even though I had a lump in my throat and in my heart almost the entire time. I had to read it slowly because the best things take time, and Backman is the best (but also kind of the worst because of the whole lump-in-my-throat situation (but mostly the best)).

While I did have that lump wedged in my esophagus, I also had a smile on my lips, and tears in my eyes. How does that even happen? How can I experience so many important emotions simultaneously?

I think that happens when you read a book about art and you actually realize what you're reading is, well, art.

If you love Backman's writing, you will love this. Long sentences, lots of detail, heartwarming sentences you want to copy into your heart, with lovable characters who are tough and gruff, but inside just want to be loved and loved. The insights on humans and their relationships is just amazing. It did take me a bit to get into this tory--but once I was in, I loved every single page. Loved the connections the characters made, how the story unfolded slowly, and how much you rooted for and wanted everything for these characters. He's a library genius, really.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a heartfelt and emotional journey about friendship, trauma, and the power of connection. The book shifts between two timelines—one full of the messy, adventurous, and sometimes tough moments of adolescence, and the other focusing on life’s endings and new beginnings. The adolescent timeline really gave me Goonies vibes, with its mix of excitement, mischief, and deep, unshakeable friendships.

Backman does what he does best: creates complex, relatable characters whose struggles feel real and raw. You can’t help but root for them, even when things are tough. There’s also this perfect balance of humor throughout that lightens the heavier moments, giving the story an emotional depth without feeling too heavy.

If you love Backman’s other books, My Friends is another gem. It’s a warm, emotional read that’s both funny and deeply moving, and it’ll make you think about your own friendships in the best way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was such a great and emotional read. Anything Backman writes I will read, he can do no wrong in his books. Thank you net galley for the arc.

I opened "My Friends" expecting the warm, character-driven story that I associate with Backman. It's cliche to say that an author can make you laugh and break your heart at the same time, but if it fits any author, it's Backman. In "My Friends," he reveals the back story of the central characters - a dying artist and his childhood friends, and Louisa, recently aged out of foster care and mourning her late best friend - in his characteristic style. The humor ranges from the small absurdities of daily life (all the fart jokes!) to the acerbic skewering of the rich and powerful who only care about status and money. If "Anxious People" had you laughing as tears streamed down your checks, grab a box of tissues and "My Friends" for another bittersweet, joyful exploration of our weird, wonderful humanity.

I was hooked on this book from the very first page. I think this is my new favourite Backman!
Backman's writing is beautiful, and I found myself highlighting and rereading his perfect phrases over and over. I laughed a lot, and cried a little. This was the book I needed right now, when so much in the world feels heavy and grim. Sure, there's some tough stuff in this book, but mostly, there was love. And art. And friendship. And farts. Perfection.

Holy moly, this was only my second Fredrik Backman book (having only read Beartown in January) and another five stars (so thankful I got access to this Netgalley ARC 🙏🏼❤️). I would even venture to say that I enjoyed this a tiny bit more than Beartown (just because the backdrop of art was a bit more interesting and relatable for me as a creative person).

So much happens in this story, in terms of life events of each of the characters, but there's also so much happening between the lines (I feel like I didn't even catch everything tbh). It's hard to pinpoint sometimes what is so striking about his writing style, you almost can't encapsulate it and need to read it for yourself. What does strike me though is how well he describes universal human emotions and experiences, so that you see how well the characters relate to each other but it also hits a very personal emotional chord. I like so far that, his stories take all the characters on quite a journey and we see a lot of pain and inner turmoil, but they eventually find a way and have a hopeful albeit imperfect ending.

I personally also really liked the relationship between Ted and Louisa throughout this story, and while they would appear to come from two completely different worlds, there are things they have in common that very little others will understand and how that bonds them. I really like how Fredrik Backman has a way of connecting characters through these seemingly invisible similarities (at least that's how I felt when I watched A Man Called Otto, still have to see how the book is).

I could go on and on and wish I could share quotes (because I highlighted a million of them so maybe I will later when the book releases). But all in all, if you love stories of seeing light in the world despite the darkness, finding "your people" in the most unlikely places, and how art can connect us all, then give this book a read (even if you've never read Fredrik Backman).

Absolutely no one can shatter my heart and piece it back together as artfully as Fredrik Backman. My Friends is the story of 4 kids coming together for a magical, tragic, fateful summer when they're teens. Years later, one of the friends, a renowned and beloved artist meets a troubled young woman who he immediately recognizes as a kindred spirit and this meeting starts a healing process and new adventures.

I loved these characters and the way the story unfolded with flashbacks, multiple perspectives, and all the various parallels between "then" and "now". If you loved Backman's other books, you'll love this one as well.