Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the ARC of this title. Fredrik Backman has been one of my favorite authors for a long time now. His storytelling abilities are among the best in the world and yet there's humility and so much humanity in his writing.

My Friends is another just absolutely beautiful story that made me laugh, cry, think, yearn, dream, and sob. The book switches between present time where a young woman struggles to find reasons to survive and the past history of a group of friends whose survival seemed to depend on their finding each other when they did. And it all starts with a painting that only reveals its secrets to those who take the time to really look and connect with it. One would hope that we all have friends in our youth that we truly connect with not in spite of our idiosyncrasies but because of them. Sometimes it feels like they are all we have that is meaningful and, perhaps we view those times through rose-colored glasses. But the beauty of Backman's friend story is that the glasses are off and the sad, painful reality is stark and pointed. But almost simultaneously, there are moments of purest joy and love.

Synopsis: When Louisa has a chance encounter with the artist of her favorite painting after being thrown out of the museum where it hangs, she has no idea that she is about to learn all the stories behind the painting while also finding a new family with some of the artist's closest friends.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a wonderful story about four fourteen year old children who help each other survive through friendship, humor, sadness, love, commitment and art. The children are each different in their own way and each are rejected and bullied not only by their fellow students but some of them by their parents as well. They have found each other. They love and trust each other and through this love and understanding they sacrifice for each other. One of them is an artist who is encouraged to believe in himself and becomes famous and successful. Art is a major part of this story and the wisdom that is conveyed through this story contributes to the value of reading this book. It has so many stories within the story which continues 25 years later and touches and includes the life of Louisa who fits right in with the former children as she meets them as adults. This is a story definitely worth reading!!

Fredrik Backman has a magnificent way with words as he tells unique stories that deal with real-life topics. My Friends is a story told in two timelines surrounding a famous painting. The story in the present involves an 18-year-old artist, Louisa, who has long loved the painting “The One of the Sea” and the details she sees in it. She wants to learn the story of the friends featured in the painting. She meets Ted, now 49 years old who was one of those friends. As Ted tells her the story behind the painting and the friends depicted in it, the novel takes the reader back to learn “firsthand” about the four friends, their difficult lives, the hardships (verbal and physical abuse) they have endured, and how they found safety and refuge with each other. The unique way that the story unfolds captured my attention and kept it throughout. As in his previous novels, Backman drops hints foreshadowing what’s to come; but things don’t always turn out the way one might expect based on those hints. What a heartfelt story! What remarkable and true friends! Highly recommended.

This is the first Fredrik Backman book I have read and it very much lived up to my expectations. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and full of nostalgia. Backman’s writing is insanely thoughtful. By reading this book, I felt like I was taken back to my days of teenage woes and reading John Green. If you are an artist of any kind, I definitely recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley!

I don’t know how he does it. Frederik Backman has such a unique way of writing. Each book is different yet you can tell who wrote it. Every story he tells causes you to feel so many emotions. In “My Friends”, I felt like I was peering through a window watching every moment of the story take place. It’s a story I read slowly, not wanting it to be over. As we enter in, an artist is dying. He befriends an 18 yr old girl, destined to be more than she thinks she is capable of. How she finds out she is special is a large part of the story. In turn, she shows others how important they are as well.
It’s a story of redemption and friendship, a story of courage and strength. Each character has a unique place in their friendship, each one a special person in their own right. My Friends is filled with humor, sarcasm, but also sadness and hope. It is a coming of age story which very much reminded me of the movie “Stand by Me” (based on the story, “The Body”, by Stephen King) but extends much further.
Fredrik Backman can make the ordinary seem extraordinary, which is exactly what I felt about this book. Thank you Fredrik for another truly wonderful story. I look forward to many more. PS I love the ending.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Anytime I pick up a Fredrik Backman book, I know I should be prepared with tissues. Sometimes there just aren't the right words for me to portray to others just how BEAUTIFUL his writing is.
My Friends is the story of four teenagers, and the summer that changed them all forever. It's a story of grief, loss, friendship, family, and life.

"...our teenage years have to simultaneously be the brightest light and the darkest depths, because that's how we learn to figure out our horizons."

A story of an artist, a tom-boy, a tough kid, and an introvert, they come from different backgrounds, including domestic violence, sick parents, emotionally unavailable parents, and single parents. But they meet up on the corner every morning.

"Life is long, Louisa. Everyone will tell you that it's short, but they're lying."

I loved the dual timeline of this book. We get the current day story from the POV of one of the teenagers now grown up. And in turn he shares the story of the summer their lives all changed. Flashbacks to adventures, shenanigans, and the events that bond them together forever. It was interesting in a way how the story was almost told in reverse. It was like knowing that a train is going to crash, but you don't know how or when, until it happens, then BAM! cue the tissues.

"I love you and I trust you."

From the very beginning, to the very end, silent tears throughout. So beautiful and will have a special place in my heart for a long while.

"Being human is to grieve, constantly."

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this early copy in return for my honest opinion.

Pub date: 06 May 2025

Goosebumps and tears within the first few chapters of this book... yeah it's safe to say that My Friends is another HIT from Fredrik Backman!

"Art is a coincidence; Love is chaos."

It feels impossible to capture all my thoughts about this book in a single review. Normally, I listen to Backman's books instead of reading the physical or e-copy, but I am so glad that my eyes got to read every word in this book. Every sentence packed a punch.

As with most of his books, this story had so many layers and characters that you became invested in over the course of the novel. There is this kind of cloud hanging over your head the whole time because you know something terrible is going to happen, but you don't know which characters are going to be impacted or how. The suspense was so good, and I was left hanging on to every word, looking for clues.

Louisa, Ted, Joar, Ali, and The Artist all took a little piece of my heart with them. Their undeniable love and support for each other was beautiful and I wish I could squeeze every single one of them and tell them that they are amazing and so loved.

” I love you. I trust you.”

My chest hurt the entire time I read this book (that's a good thing IMO lol). I was savoring every second that I was enveloped in the story and didn't want it to end. I will absolutely be doing a reread of this book in the near future.

*thank you to NetGalley and the published for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This story is about the world that breaks you and the ones that save you. Your humans. Your friends.

There is so much to this book. I’m tearing up recalling what happens in this book to form even a semblance of a review.

Each character in this book was a child given far too much responsibility. In a world where adults must take responsibility so the children don’t have to, the children only had adults who failed to do so. These children had too much to bear.

Yet they still managed to cling to life. How? Their friends. The friends saw the light the adults in their lives were blind to. When their adults were intent on destruction, their friends encouraged creation. To create their art, build their legacy, and continue living.

The entire read was emotionally devastating. I felt that the parts with Louisa in the present-day were meant to provide some comic relief, but it didn’t quite do it for me. While I completely understood Louisa’s anger, it was hard not to find her overall demeanor a bit annoying. By the 50% mark, I wondered why she was even a necessary character in the story.

By 80%, though, she and I were on the same page: “Can someone PLEASE finish the story??” I was genuinely so exhausted at that point LOL

The ending, though, was so moving. I now understood why Louisa was here. These friends have saved and strengthened each other for decades. It is time for them to be the adults they wished for - to be the adults who take on responsibility so the children don’t need to. To be adults that encourage small lights to shine bright.

In a world that gave them nothing but each other, they became the cycle that gives and keeps giving. There is nothing more beautiful than that.

Fredrik Backman is back again, with another touching story of friendship, love, art and found family.

Louisa is 18 years old, coming out of the foster care system and grieving the loss of her best friend. She is obsessed with seeing The One of the Sea - a famous painting she’s only seen in a postcard - and she connects with the artist in a random way.

Through the artist, she meets his friend Ted, who takes her on an adventure that will change her life. While they travel he tells Louisa the story of the painting and the friendship between four teens that inspired it.

Backman’s writing is as strong as ever here, and I loved it. I was a tiny bit let down with the ending but it didn’t ruin my overall enjoyment of the novel.

My Friends publishes on May 6th. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fredrik Backman has managed to delve into the depths of what it means to be human - both good and bad while simultaneously delivering a story with characters that had me laughing out loud.

My Friends is a story about childhood, friendships, the simplicity of being young and the heartache of having no control over the people who are the adults who are supposed to care and protect their children. One thing that I absolutely love about all of Backman's stories is that they are written in a way that makes them unique while also being universal at the same time; there aren't specific locations, or dates making them timeless but still enough setting that it feels like the reader is a part of the story. Spending majority of this book referring to Kimkim as "the artist" seems to that timeless element because as a reader I found myself able to picture Kimkim as an artist in my own life up until we got more of his backstory towards the end of the book.

As a neurodivergent person, I always love Backman's books because their a distinct personality in his writing style that feels relatable yet his stories never explicitly state any character differences. The quirkiness of the characters is always considered reasonably normal/accepted which is exceptionally refreshing when it doesn't always feel that way in the real world.

GoodReads review will be posted tomorrow and link will be provided and an official post will be on Instagram and linked by Friday.

The fact that this novel centers around a painting is very apropos as I always feel as though Mr. Backman’s words paint pictures in my mind!

This book made me laugh and cry. I could feel the summer heat, the smell of the sea and the warmth of the sun drenched pier that the friends used as their meeting place.

The teenagers in this story have had very hard lives, for many different reasons - not being accepted by others, living with verbal and physical abuse, no real "safe place" for any of them to be except with each other.

Louisa is just about to turn 18 and will finally be out of the foster care system. She has one destination for now - that is a gallery that is auctioning a painting that she has yearned to see for years. She herself loves to paint and draw but knows there is something extraordinary about this particular piece.

An unlikely encounter leaves her face to face with the artist and then, incredibly, she is gifted with the painting that she has always loved.

There is a wonderful cross-country train ride with Ted, one of the teenagers from years ago, and Louisa - and the entire story of that summer and how the painting came to be is told.

Really, that is all that you need to know!! I recommend that you go in blind and set aside some good lengths of time to settle into the story.

Remarkable and yet very relatable characters fill the pages. Backman’s writing is very poetic in parts and there are many phrases that I have earmarked. I’ll leave you to discover your own favorites!

This was a buddy read with Debra, Norma and Brenda, be sure to read their wonderful reviews.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

I highly recommend this extraordinary novel to everyone.

Fredrik Backman always writes such thoughtful novels. It took me quite a while to get into this, but once I did it just flowed beautifully. He is really mezmorizing

My favorite Backman book so far. I had to stop after each chapter because I didn't want it to end. This was the perfect mix of the ridiculousness of anxious people and the seriousness of beartown

I swear to god fredrik backman is the only author that can make me sob over a stupid fart joke.

A beautiful and heartbreakingly sweet story about four kids during the summer they turned 15 and the girl who helped them grieve, 25 years later.

With pages that flit between stupid jokes and witty remarks that will make you laugh and roll your eyes, and lines that cut so deep into your soul it feels like you are coming apart at the seams and make you cry so hard you can't see straight. That is the beauty of a backman book.

I know I haven't read them all but with this book, I think I finally understand why people love Backman's books so much. While I've always thought they were all beautifully written, this was the first one that I felt like I understood.

When I think about being 14, I remember being so riddled with anxiety and doubt I felt like I couldn't breathe. I used to dream of having a group of friends like the kids on the pier had, thinking if I found my people they could teach me how to live and I could feel whole for once. I used to mourn the teenage years I thought I deserved, the kind of adventures that these kids had, the stupid, semi-illegal things that always made the best stories. Because despite how awful each of their home lives were, these four kids had their friends to lean on. Although I never quite got there it was comforting to see myself in every character in a different way; Louisa's lost soul and need for a happy ending, Ted's anxieties and fear about nearly everything, or Joar andAli'ss endless war and bickering that always meant I love you.

I dreaded the ending almost as much as Louisa but dear god it was worth all the tears.

thanks to atria books and netgalley for the arc.

I have loved everything that Fredrik Backman writes and could not wait to read his latest work, “My Friends.” This had everything I expected- wonderfully flawed characters, laughter, tears, and the ability to make your heart ache. That being said, there was always an undercurrent of hope. I am not normally one to annotate a book I am reading for pleasure, but there were just so many beautiful lines.

“Being human is to grieve, constantly.” Because what he really wants to know is: “How the hell do all the rest of you cope?”

Tyrants can’t be beaten, only destroyed, and no help was on its way.

we think that if we could just have been with our human every moment of every day, then it would never have happened. It never stops being
our fault.

That’s the worst thing about death, that it happens over and over again. That the human body can cry forever.

And this one hit home the most- You can’t love someone out of addiction, all the oceans are the tears of those who have tried. We’re not
allowed to die for our children, the universe won’t let us, because then there wouldn’t be any mothers left.

I read this while watching all 32 games of March Madness this weekend as it was so hard to put down. That says a lot- the highest compliment I can give. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of ”My Friends” in exchange for my honest opinion.

There was never a question about me loving this book...if Backman writes it, I love it. Still, I have my favorites among his works and this...this is going to be one of them. There was something about this book, maybe it was the timing of my reading it, my working through some childhood traumas in therapy recently, or just because his characters are so real...that this got me in all my feels. I sobbed through a solid majority of this early copy. I annotated more than I didn't. I'll have a lot to transfer into my finished copy when I get it.

Backman has a way with characters, with story telling in the most beautifully non-linear ways. Ways my brain could never think up. As an author, I can only hope to craft characters with a fraction of that skill. My heart broke, and healed, and broke again. The world is cruel to all, but especially to children. The world is unkind, but especially to creatives. This story explored both those things in a complex and beautiful way. Of course, I'll be recommending this to everyone, as I do all his novels.

Backman’s writing feels like coming home. Sitting down after a long day. The first day of sunshine after a cold winter. The coziest, yet more heart-palpitating writing to exist. I had a knot in my throat the entire time I was reading. Backman’s words are poetic in a way that has you thinking about them for days after. Every single chapter I kept repeating in my head “this writing is amazing” over and over.

The story-telling felt like Forrest Gump with Ted sharing a lot of his childhood memories To Louisa through a story from beginning to end. No promise of a happy-ending but you want to find out how it ends anyways. This story is beautiful and poetic. Heartfelt and mind-boggling. Like the sun shining through the trees and you’re able to see all the little spiderwebs shine.

The characters are so deeply real you want them to succeed and thrive through all the hardships they go through. The way Backman introduces his characters has the reader asking questions for the entire story. There’s always more to find out to put the puzzle together. The art theme stole the show. What a stunning way to capture the beauty of an artist’s mind with the intricacies of living ‘a long life’ and having the world root against you.

This is a story about genuine friendships, emotional ties, and how coincidences can shape you into who you become. Full of heartfelt, messy, straightforward characters and the trust they all shared. I can’t recommend this enough! releases on may 6th and needs to be on everyone’s tbr!!!

Thank you Atria, Netgalley, and the author for an eARC & simon and schuster for a physical arc in exchange for an honest review!

Yep - he did it again! I just don't know how Backman does it every time - creates beautiful characters who pierce my heart, a story that I just care about so much, and makes me laugh and cry, sometimes in the same page or even paragraph.

I won't say much because I almost feel like the less you know the better, but this book features art, found family, tragedy, humor, love and ultimately friendship and bonds that can never be broken. It does deal with some hard subjects but you will fall in love with every character, even the ones we don't actually meet but learn about through stories told through the people that loved them.

I was worried at first because it did start out a bit slow for me, but as soon as I was able to sink into the story and characters, it was exactly what I expected from the brilliant Mr. Backman. He truly can just do no wrong.

Absolutely brilliant and beautiful. My friends, I encourage you all to grab a copy of My Friends and enjoy it in your favorite reading spot! I loved, loved, loved this book. All the stars and then some! I love books about found family, underdogs, and flawed individuals. I also love with books with beautiful writing and Fredrik Backman out did himself with My Friends! Every single page of this book was a gift. This book evoked emotion, had me rooting for the characters, feeling their pain and their joy. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is so much beauty in this book. Beauty in the friendships, beauty in the artwork, beauty in found family, and beauty in the kindness of strangers. There is also love. Love for friends, love for those who are not related to us but become our family, love for family (even if they are horrible) and love of art.

It is a piece of art but it also so much more. It is the embodiment of a bond, it was their life, it was their friendship, it was a found family, it was a summer day, and it was everything to the group of teens who were painted by their friend, the artist. Louisa, a young artist herself, sees what the artists intended while looking at the artwork at a museum while others only see the Sea.

A chance meeting with the artist in an alley will change Louisa's life. He sees in her what she can't see herself. He sees her beauty, her perceptive eye, her loss, her grief, and her love of art. He bequeaths her the painting and unknowing/knowingly gives her so much more. Ted, the artists childhood friend and one of the teens in the painting, gives Louisa the painting and along their journey together shares with her the story behind the artwork.

What a joy this was to read. It is brilliant, and beautifully written. I found myself highlighting section after section. My Friends is now my favorite book by Backman. This book gives all the feels while also giving some humor, some smiles, some tears, and some hope. I loved his flawed characters and how they came together and became each other's family. The friendships of our youth are special and life altering, and Fredrik Backman captured that beautifully. Plus, the ending - priceless.

Told in two timelines, My Friends is a masterpiece itself. Beautifully written, evoking emotion well thought out, and moving. Highly Recommend.

I was given this book as an eARC from Net Galley and Atria Books. THANK YOU

I am really enjoying the book so far but it does feel written for a younger audience than some of his other books. I also feel like this book is a slow read plot wise. Which I am finding a little boring. But the character development is great! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to read this prior to publication.

The book is also a little bit of a struggle because it is clear that it was written by someone who does not speak American English as their first language.