My Friends
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
May 6, 2025
Hardcover/Audio
448
Purchased/Library
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.
My review:
Oh Fredrik Backman, how I love your books! If you've never read a book of his before, you don't know what you are missing. He has such a unique writing style. I'm not sure that I can describe it, and I don't think I've seen anyone else do it either (other than to say it's unique, and if you've read him, you know). He has such a way of writing characters that you feel that they are real, and could walk out of the pages of the book. He can make you laugh in one paragraph and cry in the next. His books definitely have a message, but it's subtle and woven into the story, not hitting you over the head. In this book we follow a young girl who has been given a famous painting that she has a special affinity for. She then meets a man who has familiarity with the subjects in the painting, and he recounts a year in their life. There is a lot of messiness in their lives so be sure to check trigger warnings if you need to. I'm not usually one to enjoy stories of teenagers but this one worked for me, because as I've said, it's Backman. The last line of this book is probably my favorite last line ever (it made me tear up, and it's not even anything sad)! It brings the whole book together!
Ultimately this is a book about friendship, overcoming childhood trauma, about found family, and art and love. I suggest if you read and love this one, that you grab all his other titles (Beartown and A Man Called Ove are my personal favs), you will be hooked on his characters and writing!