This wss my first book by this author and I really enjoyed his intricate writing style. I definitely remembered that people loved his cozy atmospheres and I felt that strongly in this book.

Fredrik Backman does it again! Every book is 5 stars and this is no exception. This is definitely one of my favorites by him. This book had me laughing out loud and sobbing within the same chapters. I didn’t want it to end but I wanted to know how it ended. The storyline and timelines are so seamless even though you’re jumping around between the past and present. The way he is able to write human experiences and emotion is just so unique. It is seriously some sort of magic, I don’t know how he does it! If you love character driven stories that are emotional but humorous and make you feel like your heart is being ripped out and then put back together a million times, you’ll love this book!

Thanks to Net Galley and Atria books for the ARC!

Fredrik Backman knows exactly how to ease himself into someone's heart just to break it, repair it, and break it again. Louisa and Ted's adventure feels so real and the jumps between past and present are woven together so nicely. I love when the little details come up again later, it makes the story feel so human. This book is so beautifully written that I just want to keep reading, even if it means my heart is going to keep breaking. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC, I am so grateful to have been able to lose myself in this book.

Absolutely loved this book about friendship,connections and art.
No one writes about heartbreaking moments with as much tenderness as Fredrik Backman does.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆.

I think it’s rare that you find someone that can describe grief the way Backman does in this book, it’s heavy without being too much, it’s beautiful without becoming boring. It’s a witty novel, with smart jokes, charismatic and caricatural characters but the whole story has so much depth that you just fly through it. This book is about grief and it’s many feelings, it’s pretty much like the sea, at least if you ask me. First comes the sadness, because when you lose your person you also lose your safe place, your comfort, your purpose and that’s big and painful to handle, you gotta learn to swim when it’s something you’ve never done before and you don’t have anyone to tell you how. There’s also the anger that comes with it because you don’t get to argue with death, when it comes, it steals, and suddenly you’re left alone and you don’t really realize it at first that your person will not come back. So you try and rationalize it, you try and make it make sense but it just does not, that your person was taken from you and that you can’t do anything about it and you get angry. Then there’s betrayal because you made your whole life around that person so how dare they leave you alone in it ? How dare they let you swim alone in this sea of confusion and figure it out by yourself ? So you swim and swim, and the more you do the more you realize that it isn’t as hard as the first stroke, it gets easier, it’s not pleasant it’s just easier.

I said this book is about grief but it’s also about love and how far you’re willing to go for it, it’s about friendship and realizing your friends are a found family, they’re your safe place and they make living a little less miserable everyday. It’s also about the many feelings that comes with being seventeen while also being about realizing that you’re old and coming to terms with the fact that you’re not seventeen anymore and you will never be seventeen again. It’s about art and how it changes lives, how it saves lives.

I think this is a beautiful novel with an incredible story, it breaks your heart and then stitch it back up just so it can break it again but what a privilege is it to be able to feel everything in this book so deeply. It’s amazingly written in making you realize the importance of art, the bonds of friendships and that even though everything seems dark and complicated there’s always a glimpse of light and beauty in life. While I’m not a fan of the cover and I caught myself losing interest in some part of the story because of the change between present and past and that it might get a little long by times I absolutely would recommend reading this book, it’s beautiful. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC and allowing me to feel the many feelings that comes with this novel, my review will be up on goodread and Instagram closer to publication day.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is incredible. Four friends and a piece of artwork. So simple, yet so incredibly dynamic and complex. Set in dual timelines, we follow Joar, Ted, Ali, and the artist (Kim) throughout their 14-15th years on earth. Presently, we become acquainted with Louisa. All of these characters have had their fair share of disappointment and heartbreak. They have found each other and will do anything to protect each other. While the themes are sad and hard to read/comprehend, this is a story of resilience and perseverance. It is a story about friendship. It is a story about artwork and the feelings that art evokes within the artist and the viewer of the artwork. And it is a story about the never-ending love and trust that cements friendship together.

Wow. Just wow. Do yourself a favor and go read this book NOW! This is probably my favorite Fredrik Backman book yet. I am completely in awe of the way Backman can create these characters, bring them to life, and make you care about them. Such a talented author! Again, wow.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Fredrick Backman, and Atria Books for the opportunity to read My Friends.

Thank you so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for the gift of an ARC of My Friends. I have read all of F. Backman’s books, I feel like each has a thread connected to my heart. My Friends is no exception. Backman has the true gift of writing about the devastation and joy of being human. He is especially adept at showing the value of young people, how much they can teach us, if we take the time to listen. This is a story of friendship and art. He writes: “Art is empathy.”
My Friends is art.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Atria Books
Pub Date: 5-20-25

Thank you @netgalley, @atriabooks, and @backmansk for this eARC.

"They stare at each other, the thirty-nine-year-old and the eighteen-year-old, with funerals in their eyes. It’s hard to cope with seeing yourself in someone else."

Fredrik Backman creates relationships that just squeeze my heart from the beginning to the end of the story.  How does he do that every time!?

💙 Louisa + The Artist

💙 Ted + Louisa

💙 The Artist + Ted

💙 The Artist, Ted, Joar, and Ali

This story is a perfect blend of humor, hope, sadness, and deep reflection—truly a little bit of everything!

If you're a fan of Fredrik Backman's work, you'll definitely enjoy this book and connect with its memorable characters.

"He feels like telling her that the artist didn’t give her the painting because it was his inheritance, he gave it to her because he realized that she was the inheritance. Art is what we leave of ourselves in other people. But he doesn’t quite know how to say that."

#myfriends #fredrikbackman #atriabooks #netgalley

I doubt very much that Fredrik Backman could ever write a book that didn't move me emotionally, and with My Friends, he has continued his streak of writing amazing novels that are both funny and heartbreaking, showing humanity in all of its imperfect perfection. With My Friends, Backman has managed to make the reader nostalgic for the summers of their youth, lazing about with friends and getting up to all kinds of shenanigans with buddies and only going home when the streetlights went on. The book is a tribute to the lifelong love of true friends, and also pays homage to the power art has to affect people emotionally.

Written in Backman's inimitable style, My Friends is a story within a story, told by Ted to Louisa as they make an adventurous journey. The story unfolds slowly, as it is 'a very long story' (a running joke), and with numerous twists and surprise reveals throughout. Also typical of a Backman novel, he doesn't shy away from difficult topics and child abuse plays a significant role in the story, so sensitive readers should beware. The general vibe of the book reminded me of a personal favorite novel, A Little Life, because of the friendships that helped the teens survive and continued well into adulthood, though My Friends is far less relentless with the trauma. It will certainly be among my favorite books published in 2025.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of My Friends by Fredrik Backman. The opinions in this review are my own.

Backman highlights a motley crew of broken souls who, although most often understood and overlooked because of their age, are guided by fierce friendships they’ve forged at the end of a pier and who are desperately piecing back together pieces of themselves through the healing power of art.

Yes, there’s a need for caution regarding f-bombs. Yes, sometimes the humour is a little off colour and flat. Yes, there are scenes included that don’t further the plot.

BUT, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗺𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲, I believe.

I like to power through a book when I have downtime, but I couldn’t do it with this one. I needed time to digest what I’d read before ‘dining’ again. There are so many truths and Backman offers so much to contemplate, such as the:

💜joy of parenting
💜fragility of life
💜driving force of coincidence
💜things we try to remember and what we try to forget
💜why one would wish the world was full of broken clocks
💜that loyalty is a superpower
💜difference between being loved and receiving love
💜idea that some art should belong to everyone
💜concept that time is a thief
💜importance of seeing the beauty in everything
💜importance of leaving room to be inspired
💜 necessity of finding value, of defining success
💜illusions of poverty and wealth

Backman’s story about how a kind word or deed can have transformative/ripple effects, how art can heal and how lasting childhood friendships can sustain us is one you’ll want to put on your reading list. I promise, Joar, Ted, and Ali will pull at your heartstrings and cause you to see things differently.

I was gifted this copy by Atria Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Fairly predictable but an enjoyable read.. Well written, great characters and well told. hanks for the opportunity to read this and much luck on publication.

MY FRIENDS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Release date 05/20/2025. What a book, absolutely one of my top reads for the year. “…life is so fragile, coincidence decides so much, it takes so little to change everything”. This story was written so beautifully, a love story of friendship, trauma bond, art. 25 years ago, average teenagers, in an average town had the summer that would forever change the trajectory of their lives. Now in the present, a girl meets one of them, and an adventure of a lifetime begins. A girl, a man, a painting worth millions, that was painted 25 years ago with a story for the ages. This book felt like being in a fairy tale, with short chapters I couldn’t stop reading. I needed to know how it ended, and how they got to where they are now. This book was just amazing, but from Fredrik Backman, I wouldn’t expect anything less. Enjoy the laugh, savor the tears.

Let me preface that I really enjoy his style of writing and have read all of his prior books.

As I was reading this new one, it reminded a bit of two books: Niko Draws a Feeling (a children’s book about a boy named Niko who draws, but nobody can see how wonderful they are except a neighbor around his age named Iris, and they become friends) and The Princess Bride because it’s a story being told about a story!

I won’t spoil anything from the book, but I will say, the way he introduces his characters are perfect and as I was reading the book, I could easily see them. I loved the plot, the characters, and the overall friendship of everyone and how they overlapped. Also, some funny things happened. At a few moments throughout the book, I was surprised by what happened and who appeared.

My favorite characters were Louisa and Ted. I hope he can continue this book with more adventures.

Fredrik Backman can never ever disappoint! Nailed right on heart with this masterpiece 🩷

Thankyou netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own!

#MyFriends #Netgalley

Okay, like, wow, this book is everything! You think you’re just gonna read a story about teens on a pier and some mysterious painting, but nope—it’s an emotional rollercoaster that hits you right in the feels. I laughed, I cried, I hugged my pillow so tight because, like, friendship and art and life? This book just gets it. 🙌✨

The teens? Adorable and messy and just trying to make it through life with their makeshift family. The artist? Total genius vibes but also tragic and complicated. And Louisa’s journey to uncover the painting’s secrets? OMG, edge of my seat the whole time! The way everything ties together? Mind-blowing. It's like the perfect blend of heartbreak and hope—one second you're sobbing, the next you're smiling like an idiot. 😭💖

And the writing? So quotable. I mean, the way it talks about art and love and grief? Chef-level brilliance. It made me wanna frame my own emotions and hang them on a wall or something. Seriously, if you’re breathing, you need to read this book. Five shiny stars all the way. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Clearly I’m well past being fashionably late to this party. I feel like I’ve just stumbled upon my first fictional world – one in which I’ve lived ten lifetimes, shared a hundred heartbreaks, and laughed a thousand times – with this introduction to Backman's work. It's like a kid at Christmas, receiving his or her first book and then spending the next day embarked on a grand, epic adventure with new life-long friends.

In this story we meet Louisa, a seventeen-year-old runaway foster child who sleeps in cars for safety at night. The one possession she's managed to keep through continuous upheaval and numerous homes is a postcard of a painting. Not one to follow the rules, Louisa infiltrates society's affluent to view the original painting in person when it goes up for auction.

A serendipitous encounter afterwards involving a homeless man, cans of spray paint, and a white cat puts the painting in Louisa's possession. As a nascent artist, she's intrigued and compelled to know more about “The One and the Sea.” She embarks on a journey through foreign countries and new worlds to discover the stories behind the painting, one of three childhood friends who sit on a pier by the ocean.

For those of you familiar with this gifted storyteller’s work, you already know what you’re in for. For the rest of us? Buckle up, hold on tight, and let this tsunami of emotions consume you. With the ebb and flow of the story’s ever-present sea, this saga is a heartbreaking joy and devastating delight.

Told through two timelines – Louisa's present and the three boys from the painting, twenty-five years ago – a story of long summers, innocent unruliness, giggles and laughter, and lifelong bonds is shared with a young girl whose life experiences have taught her far more than any seventeen-year-old should ever know.

Through hardship, desperation, and neglect we see that love can repair cracks in a heart, laughter can soothe wounds of the soul, and the bonds of friendship are far more steadfast and indestructible than those of blood. Through death and loss we find that Heaven listens and a loved one who’s passed may be just around the corner.

The human condition is equally fragile and formidable. Art is a gift that fills our holes and adds awe and beauty to the living, as does finding your people. People who choose you and cherish you and encourage you. People who continue to cheer you on even when they’re no longer in your day-to-day.

Your heart is in no way safe with Louisa and her journey, but it is absolutely in compassionate, benevolent, and capable hands. With misdirects, blindsides, and wonderments, the narrative engages the reader throughout this breathtaking, poignant adventure. Full of quirky wit, charming turn of phrase, and evocative imagery, this brilliantly masterful story is certain to leave its indelible mark on every heart it encounters

All the stars!! Fredrik Backman is my all time favorite author, and receiving an ARC of this book the day before Christmas felt like an amazing gift. I read as much as a could while still being present for Christmas Eve and Christmas, but had difficulty separating myself from this brilliant story about the power of friendship and art! I knew it was going to be another winner when I started laughing out loud and crying within the first 15% of the book. I immediately loved the characters and their relationships. Every word is so perfectly chosen and translated. I wanted to find out how the story ended, but also didn’t want it to end. A reminder of what a perfect book experience can be like as they don’t come around often enough for me. Highly recommend!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A truly fantastic read from beginning to end. After reading this novel, I'm heartbroken and need a hug, but I loved every second of it.

<blocknote>She becomes someone else's postcard.</blocknote>
i just have to say, december has treated me so well, in terms of books. it's been banger after banger after banger, and this one couldn't be anything other than a masterpiece.

my friends explores childhood friendships, grief and, most importantly, the art of it all. the novel follows two timelines, the past, where we meet out trio (joar, ted and c.jat — better known as the artist-). it's set during the summer, one filled with both laughter and hopes and dreams, and violence and the aformentioned grief, and the present, where louisa encounters the artist when she sneaks into an auction to see The One of the Sea— a painting that captured that summer feeling the trio felt back in the past, in the form of three small figures no one but her seems to notice. louisa's journey is one of healing and love.

every single one of the characters we meet througout the book is nothing but extraordinary in their own way, and the all have the power to reflect on your own life and make you feel different emotions.

if i have to give a small critique, i'd say the double timeline sometimes left me high and dry when it changed so abruptly, but it wasn't bothersome in the grand scheme of things.

i fell in love with backman's work when i read And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, and i told myself i had to read beartown, because everyone was raving about it, but didn't. so i'm going to take this book as a wake up call to start reading this man's entire work.

thank you to every single person working at ATRIA for giving me the opportunity to read this masterpiece, and thank you fredrik backman for writing it.

Backman is a must-read author in my book! It doesn't matter the topic, I'm going to check it out. This story was interesting and had me invested in the first few pages. I hope it becomes a Book Club title because there's much to discuss. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.