♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus)'s Reviews > My Friends

"𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒯𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝓊𝓅 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓏𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓁𝓊𝒸𝓀."

"𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓵𝓪𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓼. 𝓞𝓱, 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽 𝓵𝓪𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓼."

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 𝔸𝕃𝕃. 𝕋ℍ𝔼. 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕊. ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Truthfully, I have no idea how to even give a quick summary of this book. It feels almost impossible because this book is SO much. I sat here and sobbed and laughed my ass off through each chapter of this book. It was such a damn journey and I loved it so freaking much. An instant forever favorite. I'll carry this book in my heart.

This is a story within a story- about 4 epic amazing friends and the summer when they were 14 years old and an art competition.

It's a story about love, loss, friendship, found family, heartbreak, self-identity, and so so much more. It is not for the weak of heart and may be triggering for some. Please check the trigger warnings if needed.

There is SO much packed in these pages and I took my time and just savored each page - Backman's prose is so poetic and beautiful, you have no choice but to take your time with his words. Roll them around a little bit, sit and think on them.

You simply can't read his words and be done. You have to sit with them, break them down, say "wow" to yourself when you figure out what it means to you, and then repeat the process. How this man can weave humor, hijinks, laughter, sadness, depression, and utterly gut-wrenching scenarios and ideas, sometimes all of the latter in one paragraph, is truly beyond me.

The story is so multifaceted - just layers upon layers of goodness, of sadness, of truly scary revelations and realities. There were times when you could feel the darkness billowing from the pages... I was so anxious about flipping the pages because I had no idea what was going to happen. I feared for these characters, I mourned for these characters, I laughed with them, related to them.

I just want to squeeze them and tell them all I love them. I honestly don't have the words to express just how beautiful and amazing this book was. THIS is one of those books that will have you staring at the wall for a while after you finished it. Because did you finish the book, or did the book finish you?

Don't worry, Backman will give you your heart back in one piece.

Future generations will read Backman's books and discuss them in class, and really talk about what his words mean, just as we do with Bronte, Austen and many other classic author's. I have no doubt.

This story will beat you up, tickle you, crush you, warm your heart and change you. I can't recommend it enough!

╰┈➤ˎˊ˗ Expected Release Date - 05/06/25

"𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓊𝓈."

"𝐹𝓇𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓅𝒶𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒.."

"𝒢𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒻 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒶, 𝒾𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃."

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the complementary advanced digital copy. All thoughts are my own.