6.99k reviews for:

My Friends

Fredrik Backman

4.54 AVERAGE

caribbeansoul_00's review against another edition

5.0

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

yaelstrasberg's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

roobs_reads's review

2.0

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I wanted to like this so badly - I don’t think Fredrik Backman’s style works for me. I had a really hard time getting invested in the story and characters. So much potential in the plot, but fell short for me.

hobbitowl's review

4.0

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jmh_bklife's review

2.0

reflective sad slow-paced

devonita's review

2.75

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

tarabacher's review

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: No

djspiewak's review

3.0

dark emotional lighthearted reflective slow-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

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It’s an alright book. Pretty much squarely in Backman’s wheelhouse. His later career work has veered into darker and more serious themes, particularly around abusive relationships and broken homes, and this book follows that trend. Additionally, his plot development, while always very deliberate, has trended toward an absolutely glacial pace. The Winners takes place over the course of about two days, and it’s like 800 pages long! My Friends isn’t quite that bad, but it’s still much much slower than Ove.

It’s not badly done, and it did make me cry at the end, but I think I’m less and less a fan of Backman’s newer work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

Multiple instances of physically abusive parents of teens, but one very specific and long running one. This is a central theme of the book.

ashlea_t19's review

5.0

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Yes

linda06's review

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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