Firstly, don’t get this book confused with another book by the same title My Friends by Hisham Matar. I gave that book five stars back in January. But today I am doing a book review My Friends by Frederik Backman. Two very different books.

Backman

Author Backman has had some very popular books in the past 15 years including the well loved A Man Called Ove. I have read four books by Backman, loved two, liked one and really did not like the fourth. So I was hesitant to read another Backman, but My Friends was getting such great accolades I decided I should give it a chance. I listened to this in the car with my husband on a road trip. The narrator was very good.

My Friends by Frederik Backman

I really enjoyed the unfolding of this story about four friends and a pivotal summer. I reminisced in my mind about the summer I was 14 years old. One of the best I can remember, and how, like in this novel, you don’t appreciate it until it’s gone.

Backman introduces us in this novel to Louisa, a homeless young woman with no friends and no where to go. But a chance meeting in an alley behind a church will change the projection of her life. Louisa thinks she is meeting a homeless man who lives behind a dumpster. But this man is actually a very famous artist, a dying man, and a friend.

Four Teenagers

Four young teenagers, each with their own set of troubles, find and connect with each other for one spectacular summer. Lives will be changed forever, and each will carry the friendships made that year to their grave…some sooner than others.

Ted is one of those friends, and after Louisa meets the artist in the alley, Ted will be tasked with finding her and giving her a gift. A life changing gift. But the gift itself will not change Louisa as much as meeting these friends will. Ted and Louisa will embark on an adventure, and Backman will describe these escapades with fantastic prose both laugh out loud funny, and earth shatteringly heartbreaking.

A Beautiful Story

The novel is a story of the four friends, individually and as a unit. And Ted will share his friends with Louisa in the telling of their lives. It is a beautiful story with some unexpected twists, and some very funny moments. Thank you for reading my book review My Friends by Frederik Backman.

*****Five stars for My Friends by Frederik Backman. I’m really glad I decided to get this novel. I rank it the best of the five Backman novels I have read. See last week’s book review The Parable of the Sower by Olivia E. Butler.

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