Hey, guess who’s going to finally try and get caught up on reviews! This girl! Let’s start with one of the most heartfelt and poignant books I’ve read so far this year, shall we?
About the Book
Title: My Friends
Author: Fredrik Backman
Series: none
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 436
Edition Read: Kindle Library eBook
Dates Read: February 17 – 22, 2026
Challenges: GoodReads Award Winner, Best Fiction 2025
Blurb: 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.
Review
This book made me happy and sad at the same time. Putting all these emotions into words is going to be tricky, but I’ll do my best.
I loved, loved, loved these characters so much. This is an extremely character driven story and I was so invested in how they all interacted. The story is partially told in two different timelines: the past, with the teenagers that were depicted in the painting (including the artist); and the present, with Louisa, a young girl trying to find her way in the world after growing up in foster care. I loved Louisa – she is a tough one. She’s had to be. Her life has been very difficult and she only had one person she could rely on – her best friend Fish, who she lost. And Ted. Oh Ted! He’s such a sweet man! One of the teenagers depicted in the painting from years ago, he reluctantly tells Louisa his story and the story of the artist.
What starts as an attempt to break into an art auction to see a famous painting becomes a whirlwind trip to both find the painting again and to return to Ted’s (and the artist’s) hometown. Through Ted’s stories, we also meet Jeor and Ali, their other two friends, and how their stories wove together. It’s a story of found family, of friends who make difficult home lives bearable, and what it’s like finding a kindred spirit again after many years of giving up. It’s a beautiful tale.
This was my first Fredrik Backman novel, but I have a feeling it won’t be my last.
GoodReads rating: 5 stars
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
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