Beartown is a book I read by Fredrik Backman and it made me want to read all of this author’s backlist. So when I heard about My Friends, I knew I needed this book in my life. Today I want to tell you about this book and what I thought.
A big thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
“The world is full of miracles, but none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else’s belief in them.”
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 a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures.
More than two decades before, 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 every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover 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 anxious she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa’s complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don’t always take the form we expect them to.
Fredrik Backman’s signature charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life are on full display in this funny, moving novel. His most heartfelt and personal tale yet, My Friends is a stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of art and friendship.
Review
After reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman I knew I stumbled upon a very special author. He has such a way with words that make you feel so much! I’m a reader who can sit down and devour a book, but I took my time with My Friends. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write this review because I want to scream from the rooftops how amazing this book is, but also I feel this is a book that everyone needs to experience this one knowing as little as possible.
Ted and Louisa are strangers but one painting puts them on a journey together. A painting is the cause of everything and we learn so much about these two as well as Ted’s childhood friends and how the painting came to be. This story is heartbreaking, hopeful, funny, and everything in between. There were chapters that made me want to stop reading because they made me so sad and I didn’t want anything to happen to the characters I came to love.
There were also so many quotes that just hit so powerfully that I plan on buying a physical copy to go back and highlight all of my favorite quotes. It never ceases to amaze me when an author can make me feel this way about fictional characters. My Friends is about friendship, love, grief, and that family isn’t always blood. This has become one of my favorite reads of 2025 and I know I’ll be thinking about it regularly.
I’ve seen articles that Fredrik Backman isn’t sure he’ll ever publish another book, but I’m grateful he gave us My Friends. Have you read anything by this author? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
