Goodreads 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 a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures.

More than two decades before, 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 every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover 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 anxious she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa’s complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don’t always take the form we expect them to.

Fredrik Backman’s signature charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life are on full display in this funny, moving novel. His most heartfelt and personal tale yet, My Friends is a stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of art and friendship.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Art speaks to me through different voices, experiences, and beauty.

I’m captivated by the story of each art piece, which incapsulates my heart yearning to unravel the nature of the artist.

When my eyes see a painting, I transport my whole being to be part of the story.

I yearn to navigate the crevices of each brush stroke to feel the painting and share it with the universe.

The world will see the brush strokes of color paint its way through the mind of an artist the way he sees the world.

“If that artist is one of us, really one of us, you have to do whatever you can to help.”

Fredrik Backman stole my heart with his storytelling. It’s the first book I read by him, and I yearn for more. Art connects each one of us differently, and each artist paints a picture that either captivates them or torments them. This story is one where an artist paints his love for the bond of friendship. His friends meant the world to him. The painting of his friends laughing because one of them farted is the painting each person should hang on their wall. Each character is flawed and struggling to survive in their household. “Tomorrow” was never promised for each character. “Tomorrow” was their goodbye each evening. It was a way to hope they had another day to be together.

I was devastated after I finished page fifty-five. My heart was broken connecting to a character I knew so little about, but I fell in love with him. How can a character captivate you in this way? I learned very little of this character before you are taken back to when the painting idea first came up and what happened after it was painted.  Each character was different in their own way, but they each belonged to each other. They protected their clan like life depended on it. The painter was a young boy that was weak and probably wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did as an artist if he didn’t have a cheerleader that believed in him, while he didn’t see his amazing skills. This story goes to show how much love, support, and believing in someone can transform a life of possibility, even with so much uncertainty around you. I highly recommend you read this book that will give you all the emotions you didn’t know you can feel while reading one book. I hope you get lost with these friends and see art in a new way.

Author Biography

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, his first work of non-fiction, will be released in the US in May 2019. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children. Connect with him on Twitter @BackmanLand or on Instagram @backmansk.