My Friends

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is a heartfelt story about friendship-how it shapes us when we're young and how it sticks with us as we grow older. I loved how well the characters were developed; they felt real, flawed, and familiar. Backman does a great job showing the messy, beautiful side of friendship, both during your wildest teenage summers and in late life, when things are more complicated.

That said, the book did wander a bit for me. There were moments where it felt like it lost focus, which slowed things down. But even with that, I really enjoyed it. If you enjoy stories that delve into relationships and emotions, blending humor with depth, this is definitely worth reading.

A thoughtful, emotional read that stayed with me.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with 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.

Most people don't even notice them-three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

Simon Schuster - Atria Books | May 6, 2025 | ISBN13: 9781982112820 | 448 pages

"Backman captures the messy essence of being human...clever and affecting, as likely to make you laugh out loud as it is to make you cry." -Washington Post

"The perfect balance of heartwarming and heart-wrenching...Fredrik Backman has a way of simply yet elegantly describing relationships. We can all be idiots, but we're still all human beings worthy of connection and love." -NPR

"Everything Backman's pen touches oozes with insight and heart." -Amazon Book Review

"Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic."-Kirkus Reviews

"As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with Abba and Stieg Larssson." -The New York Times Book Review

"Backman is the Dickens of our age, and though you'll cry, your heart is safe in his hands."-Green Valley News (Arizona)