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Read our book review – My Friends by Fredrik Backman

May 2025

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Author: Fredrik Backman

Category: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Book Format: paperback

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

ISBN: 9781398516403

RRP: 34.99

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Synopsis

#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, who “captures the messy essence of being human” (The Washington Post), returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a 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 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 town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.

Told in Backman’s distinct style, this is the story of Louisa, a young runaway artist who meets her idol at an art show featuring one of his famous paintings. The painting is composed of three teenagers sitting at the end of a pier. Soon after the artist dies Louisa learns he has bequeathed this painting to her.s It is delivered to her by his lifelong friend, Ted. The two form an unlikely duo as they set off by train to sell the painting. During the eventful journey, Ted tells the young artist the story of how the artwork came to be, of the life of these friends, and of that summer spent at a pier together. Ultimately, it is the story of three very different teenagers and the power of that friendship.

It sounds simple, but of course it isn’t. It’s wrapped in sadness and laughter, insights into human behaviour, with some surprising twists along the way.

It transported me to the pier and into these characters’ lives, but it also had me reflecting on my own life, thinking of my friends from my youth and how they shaped me.

My Friends is quintessential Backman, one of my most favourite authors. He has a certain writing style, where he drip-feeds information and circles back on things, all with a very distinct type of humour. Although, this style can become repetitive if you read his books too closely together. He also has a way of writing a line or paragraph that so perfectly reflects the human condition, often prompting tears or goosebumps.

While this wasn’t my favourite book of his, I still enjoyed it immensely with an ending I loved.

Reviewed by Sarah Kraus

Read a book review of Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People, The Winners, My Friends, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

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