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.

We love it when you comment, share and pin our book reviews. Thank you as always.

I know right up front there are a collection of people who won’t like this book. And that’s okay. If you like something lighter and not political than maybe this isn’t for you. But I thought this was a beautiful story, astonishing, lyrical and profound. Here is my book review My Friends by Hisham Matar.

Libya

Hisham Matar is an American born British/Libyan with another book The Return, nominated for both the Booker Prize and the Pulitzer. I need to read that one. In My Friends Matar navigates the Libyan political scene under the Gaddafi regime and the life of a forced exiled Libyan man living in England.

Read by the author, I was engrossed in this beautiful and difficult story that I listened to on Audible. The protagonist in the story, Khaled is also a writer, lover of poetry and a lover of the Libyan writer Hosam Zowa. Khaled hears a short story when he is just a boy in Benghazi by Zowa that will direct his entire life.

United Kingdom

Khaled will venture to Scotland for university, the pride of his father, mother and younger sister. Here he will meet another student and that relationship will change the projection of Khaled’s life when the two attend a protest at the Libyan Embassy in London. The events of that day, which Khaled barely survives, will keep him out of Libya and away from his family for decades to come.

Friendship

The heart of this beautiful book is about friends. How friendships can sustain us and also break our hearts. Khaled’s friends help him process the brutalities of the Gaddafi regime, even though they often disagree on what should happen in Libya. Khaled’s exile will test all aspects of his life; his complex feelings about his family still in Libya; how he sees his future as a Libyan man and the culture he was raised in; how his career unfolds; his love life; his personal regrets and fears and most of all his enduring yet multifaceted friendships.

Book Review My Friends by Hisham Matar

One of the best books I have listened to in a long time. I wonderful history lesson about Libya, a riveting tale of being in exile, and a beautiful story about the love of family, friends and country. I loved it.

*****Five stars for My Friends by Hisham Matar.

Thanks for reading my book review My Friends by Hisham Matar. See last week’s book review The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.