Reviews with content warning for Suicide - My Friends

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

38 reviews

inkovert's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

He would often try to think that perhaps that has to be the case: that our teenage years have to simultaneously be the brightest light and the darkest depths, because that’s how we learn to figure out our horizons.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do, with your one wild and precious life?”

There are no words to describe what this book is about or what it will make you feel as you're reading it. So I will just use Backman's own words because they always manage to be filled with all that needs to be said.

This is a book about friendship. About childhood summers. About finding your humans. About painting like the birds sing. About what a painting can do to a person. About one really good "now". Bad ideas. "One of us". "I love you and I trust you". "Good night, ghosts". Calling out "tomorrow!" at the crossroads. How hard it is to be a child. How hard it is to be an adult. How hard it is to be everything. It's about how art transforms us and about all the ways in which it exists around us: art is empathy, context, a moment, what we leave of ourselves in other people, a coincidence, a nakedness, your homeland. Art is what can't fit inside a person. Art teaches us to mourn for strangers. Art needs friends.

I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I got angry, my heart broke, sometimes all within the same page. I've said it time and time again that Backman has such a unique talent with capturing and encapsulating the complexity of the human experience in so few words. I stupidly began highlighting the lines that resonated with me until I realized there was no point because I really just wanted to highlight the entire damn book. I fell for these characters. Hard. I was crying for them by the second chapter even though I had just met them. And now I feel like I've known them forever and can't think of the time before they existed (ironically, a resounding theme within the novel itself). There's no point giving a synopsis or trying to explain what this book is about because Backman puts it all on the page and no summary or additional amount of words would do it anymore justice, so I won't even try. All I'll say is this is a book that everyone needs, now more than ever. It's a gift really. A solace. A way to cope. It will make you take life for granted, as we should, because that's the whole point of being here. Because it's crazy that we exist. And it's cool, really cool, that we happened at all.

“It’s art that helps me cope. Because art is a fragile magic, just like love, and that’s humanity’s only defense against death. That we create and paint and dance and fall in love, that’s our rebellion against eternity. Everything beautiful is a shield. Vincent van Gogh wrote: ‘I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.’”

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

jazzy_t's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Amazing.

Hands down one of the best books I've read. The quotes are just beautiful and the story its so heartfelt, sad, bittersweet, nostalgic.

I felt so connected to the characters. The world everything was real and raw but beautiful.

I don't think I'll be the same after reading this book.

Content Warnings

sasparg's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

I loved this story, the novel follows a young woman named Louisa on her journey to discover the story behind her favorite painting. It is about friendship, grief, and the intimacy that comes with being known so well and loved. It is also a love letter to artists and their artwork the ways we can connect with ourselves and the world around us. The characters are wonderfully well rounded, realistic, and easy to love. Incredibly moving and entertaining!

Content Warnings

juleslutch's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Every sentence is a quote to linger on in this gem of a book by Fredrik Backman. There were moments I was laughing out loud crying, moments tears released and overall just felt a beautiful warmth and new appreciation for the beauty of humanity as a whole. Left me challenged to be a better human, keep connections alive and a gentle reminder that everyone has a story and a story and a story and all are worth sharing with others. Highly recommend this gentle, bold read.

Content Warnings

kd_reads4's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

My Friends is ultimately the story of friendship and how it shapes, and sometimes saves, us. From the first page; Backman reaches in, grabs your heart, and doesn’t let go until the last page. He is one of my favorite authors and the way the story unfolds, often in unexpected ways, is masterful.

The story is told both present day and with flashbacks and is the story of a group of friends, as well as a new friend in present day. It was at times quite sad but in others very funny. I love how he writes his characters; whether good, horrendous, or somewhere in between they all play an important role in the story.

It’s really rare that a book makes me cry, the reticent Swede I am. This one had me in tears by chapter 8, a record for me. Mildly embarrassing too as I was reading while dining solo in a restaurant in Porto.

Just a caution for my fellow tenderhearted readers. If there is content that is an issue for you, I highly recommend checking the content warnings for this one. There are several very difficult subjects covered that were at times an issue for me. I’m very glad I read it and think it is a really important book, but wasn’t always an easy read.

I highly recommend the newest book by Fredrik Backman, and I am sure fans of his Beartown series will love this story.

Thank you to the publisher Atria Books, author Fredrik Backman, and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings

kodeerants's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

“My Friends” by Fredrick Backman is a literary fiction novel that centers around an orphan named Louisa who lost her best friend Fish and becomes obsessed with a painting that shows a group of teens near water. The book starts with Louisa sneaking into an event where the art piece is being shown. She gets chased out and runs into a man who she thinks is homeless, but it is actually the artist of her favorite painting named “C. Jat”, whose real name is revealed later on to be Kim. The name “C. Jat” is actually his artist name, which has all the initials for his friends who are: Christian, Joar, Ali, and Ted. Louisa wants to discover the true story behind the piece, and we learn about the group of friends throughout the book.

Now, do not let the happy summer cover fool you into thinking this book is a fun light read. Absolutely not! This is a dark, tense, triggering book with lots of traumatic events being mentioned. Please be warned that there are talks of self-harm, drug usage, abuse (physical and mental), etc. Please be wary of this when you read the book because I went into this book completely blind and found it very difficult to read... because I was literally sobbing during multiple points reading this. I cried a total of 6 times, by the way. Rude of you, Freddy...I was so excited to read your work, and you traumatized me.

I am not usually a big fan of literary fiction novels, but I wanted to read this book because I have heard nothing but good things about Fredrick Backman’s writing. Sad to say that I own five of his books that have been left unread on my shelves. Not for long, though, because I am absolutely obsessed with his writing and now would read anything he writes... even his grocery list.

I was impressed with some of the quotes that I read in this book. One quote that made me laugh was, “rich people love tiny food. Everything else should be big, except for taxes and sandwiches.” We love a quote dragging the rich….right? Of course we do.

Even though this is not a genre that I normally love to read, I have to say that I was sucked into the story immediately just based on how good the writing was. I found myself invested in Louisa and her struggles. I felt the power the painting had over her and wanted to know the real story of the group of friends as well. This book was powerful in showing the struggles of friendships, how you have to believe in yourself to accomplish your goals, and how you’re never really alone as long as you have love in your heart.

When the artist C. Jat dies he leaves Louisa the painting as his final wish, which made me cry immediately. He knew that Louisa would love having that painting, and selling it would change her life. It was a beautiful act of love for someone he just met, and it really touched me to read about it. Ted, one of C. Jat’s oldest friends help Louisa with the painting by telling her how the painting came to be and bringing her to his hometown.

I don’t want to spoil the end of this book because you really should read it for yourself, but just know that this book will touch you in ways that make you feel vulnerable and seen. I have sadly related to some of the events that happened in this book, so those moments felt very precious to me. I also was scared to death when they left the painting on the train and when Ted got robbed! Might as well call yourself a thriller writer, Freddy. My heart was racing! To end my review, I would just like to say Fredrick, after reading your writing, “I love you, and I trust you.”

Thank you to Netgalley + Simon and Schuster for the eARC of this novel!

Content Warnings

bookedinthebakery's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Backman’s books are so heartfelt that they fill you up in a way that no other books can, and his latest book, My Friends, is no exception. He has a way of completely pulling you into the world he’s created. Even if you don’t see why or how you’ll care about these characters at the beginning, you’ll always fall in love with them by the end of the book.

My Friends has a slightly smaller cast of characters than his other books—through a chain reaction of events, Louisa meets Ted in the present day, and he tells her the story of four friends 25 years ago whose lives are changed by one summer. What happened that summer will directly impact Louisa, and it’s ultimately a story of grief, the creation of art, and the transformative power of friendship.

Backman’s signature omniscient narrator is here again, alluding to past and present events, so even if you think it might end one way, it doesn’t. I didn’t cry like I did with Backman’s other books, but overall it’s heartfelt, quirky, and a wonderful addition to Backman’s shelf!

Content Warnings

noelle_madison's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

First off, thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC. As I finish this book, I’m sitting alone in my room crying and crying and crying. I’m almost in a state of shock about the masterpiece I just read. I wonder how a book could be so well-written. The bond you, as a reader, create with these characters is unexplainable. I truly felt like I was in their world being told this story. The highs and lows, up and downs are what make this story. I don’t want to give much away, but just know that this book will consume you in the best way possible. I truly know that this will be one of the best books I’ll read in my entire life. I would give this book a million stars if I could. Thank you Fredrik for sharing your art with us.

Content Warnings

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