Liz's Reviews > My Friends

Fredrik Backman has such a unique writing style, with an ability to tap into the human existence with just the right phrase or two. I can always count on many laughs and quite a few tears whenever I read one of his books. When I read his books I know I’m going to be highlighting multiple sections. This was no exception.
This one does get off to a slower start than some of his other books. Louisa is an 18 year old who has just lost her best friend. Having just reached the age when she’s passed out of the foster care system, she literally has no one she can turn to or rely on. One night she meets a well known artist and in a fluke, he ends up bequeathing her his most famous painting, created twenty five years earlier. He created the painting when he was 15 and it covers his best friends from that time, one of whom has seen him through his final illness. Louisa and that friend, Ted, will embark on a cross country trip returning to the town where it all began.
The book is deeply philosophical and thought provoking. It covers creating art, grief, love, obviously friendship, but mostly the willingness to live life to the fullest. This work shows us the best and worst of humans. Backman’s writing is so realistic it made me want to hug some characters and throttle others.
I’m often not a fan of dual timelines, but here, the method worked perfectly. And that was down to caring just as much for Louisa as the earlier friends. Not to mention, getting to see how Ted had turned out. The ending was perfect and wasn’t at all what I was expecting.
I highly recommend this as a perfect choice for book clubs.
My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.