Occasionally, books have a way of tapping into emotional wells that surprise us. My Friends by Fredrik Backman did just that for me. This book did an amazing job of gently pulling me back and forth between the author’s story and my own. If you’ve read other novels by this author, you are familiar with his writing style. It is straightforward and heartwarmingly philosophical, with just a hint of Roald Dahl’s fantastical expressiveness and humor.
The story begins with Louisa, the abused foster kid and budding artist, who loses her best friend and has run away from her recent foster home. She collides with “the artist” outside a church where an art auction is taking place. Louisa is there to see in “real-life” the painting pictured on a stolen postcard she has kept throughout her childhood. “The Artist,” brought to the church by his beloved friend, Ted, is there to buy back his own painting. From this accidental meeting, the story of four childhood friends from the past begins to unfold.
The characters, whether past or present, are very well developed and recapture with laser precision, what it was to be a kid, painfully maturing into adulthood. It then reminds us that adulthood isn’t the triumphant success we once imagined as children, but rather a complex and nuanced continuation of who we’ve always been. There is incredible loss in this book, as well as pure-hearted joy, and I relived these themes emotionally both as a child and an adult.
The novel moves between timelines seamlessly. The plot is very well constructed. The back and forth is revealed through the characters’ reflective storytelling in present day, so it never feels like you are having to make challenging mental jumps in historic timelines. The author easily flip-flops between the characters’ lives in a way that keeps the narrative action in a fluent continuum. It’s a very easy read. Was I hooked the ENTIRE time? Well… perhaps at times, these young characters’ insights may feel almost too perfect, too self-aware — but that is part of the novel’s charm.
Some reviewers felt this book was about art and artists, but in my humble opinion, art was used as a vehicle to impart a simple theme, that shared pain, laughter, and small acts of loyalty can create lifelong bonds that endure even after childhood.
Every taste, sight, sound and emotion is vividly captured through a child’s perspective. The story carried me back to places, experiences and people I hadn’t revisited in decades. Backman has a remarkable ability to create deep connections — not only between readers and his characters, but also within the reader’s own memories. This is a book I would highly recommend.
