Fredrik Backman is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels including Anxious People and A Man Called Ove. His writing is lovingly detailed, and his stories have been described as warmhearted, charming, wise, funny, and powerful. As a reader, I’ve loved how Backman’s stories capture one from the very first page. I’ve long admired the way his stories are written: pages filled with compassionate characters, wonderful details, and beautiful descriptions. That’s why I was so thrilled to read his latest novel, My Friends.
The story of My Friends follows the lives of four friends during one particular summer and how from that one summer a famous painting was created which features these four friends. The story also follows an eighteen-year-old girl named Louisa. To tell the story of Louisa and the four friends in the painting the chapters in My Friends alternate between the present and the past. The present story belongs to Louisa while the past story (taking place twenty-five years earlier) belongs to teenagers Joar, Ted, Ali, and the artist (who painted the famous painting).
The novels of Fredrik Backman feature themes of loss, change, sadness, grief, the power of friendship and how life can be complicated and at times messy, but there are also themes of joy, hope, and second chances. My Friends carries on some of these themes through the character of Louisa, who is grieving the loss of her best friend. Louisa finds her only comfort in the form of a picture postcard with a painting printed on it; a postcard she took from one of the many foster homes she lived in. It “was the first thing Louisa ever stole” and “the first really beautiful thing she ever touched.” The power of friendship, change, and hope features prominently in the story of the four friends. Especially touching is the way the friends leave each other at the end of the long summer days they spend together. They simply say to each other “Tomorrow.” To them “Tomorrow” is a promise, a strength they offer each other to get through the evenings—because though their days are filled with sunshine and hanging out and laughing together at a pier in their seaside hometown, their evenings are filled with abuse, anger, frustration and pain. The novel takes an in-depth look at friendship and what it means to be a friend, to be so close and to know each other so well—to have a bond so deep, that it can create an unforgettable and cherished work of art, capturing one moment in time, that will affect the life of a young woman twenty-five years in the future.
Backman’s words take us into the world of these four friends, so you can smell the sea air, hear the laughter, and experience the joy of being young and reckless. His words help us to see the smallness of their world and the frustration of their home lives. At the same time, we can feel the grief Louisa experiences and the way she is a survivor. I enjoyed the time spent with the four friends and Louisa, and the way the novel really hits its stride when the story of Louisa and the four friends intertwines when two characters meet and take a cross-country journey.
There is much in My Friends that fans of Backman and those new to his novels will love. It’s a tender heartwarming novel exploring the challenges and joys of life itself, of loving and trusting others, of unexpected change and unexpected hope.
FICTION
My Friends
By Fredrik Backman
Atria Books
Published May 6, 2025
