Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.55 AVERAGE
4.55 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
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:
Yes
funny
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t know entirely how I feel yet. I liked this book and respect the found family story that it told. The writing drew me in. This book is a love letter to friendship, art and loyalty. It felt similar to Remarkably Bright Creatures and it’s narrated by the same voice actor. I’m interested in reading more from this author.
This book in a nutshell: “Art doesn’t require training, dear child, art just needs friends.”
“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.’”
This book in a nutshell: “Art doesn’t require training, dear child, art just needs friends.”
“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.’”
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What would we give to experience the type of deep friendship & love that these kids shared?
With Backman’s happy/pensive/meloncholy writing style, I enjoyed the setup for this story: 1 friend telling the story of their friendship/one summer to a lonely girl who is “one of us”. Breaks your heart a bit while giving it a squeeze.
THANK YOU NetGalley & Atria Books for this ARC. A bit of a dream to get an ARC of one of my favorite contemporary authors.
With Backman’s happy/pensive/meloncholy writing style, I enjoyed the setup for this story: 1 friend telling the story of their friendship/one summer to a lonely girl who is “one of us”. Breaks your heart a bit while giving it a squeeze.
THANK YOU NetGalley & Atria Books for this ARC. A bit of a dream to get an ARC of one of my favorite contemporary authors.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman. I picked this up because everyone’s been talking about it, and honestly, I haven't loved some of Backman’s books in the past. But this one might just be my favourite. It’s beautifully written... a story about friendship, love, creativity, pain, and abuse. I didn’t expect to feel so much for these characters, but their lives were layered and rich, each with so much happening beneath the surface. The beginning worked, the ending worked, and everything in between pulled me in. One of my favourite reads of the year. I was ready to give it 4.75 stars, but no… this is a 5-star read.
Sobs uncontrollably. Fredrik Backman’s story telling is unparalleled. He gives such impactful details of the simplest moments that make up who people truly are.
Such a beautiful story. Be prepared to cry every 35 pages.
Such a beautiful story. Be prepared to cry every 35 pages.
After reading My Friends, I think I have decided that Backman is not for me. On one hand, there is something about his writing that is absolutely gorgeous and I want to highlight so many passages. On the other hand, I really don’t like how he executes said writing.
The beautiful turns of phrase start to feel performative, and every platitude eventually ends up taking me out of the story. The humor initially delights, but becomes grating. How many ways can we convey that Ted is SO OLD - in his forties!?! Omniscient narratives aren’t my favorite, and in this novel kept the characters at arms length. And just like Ove, Backman leans on trauma after trauma to elicit an emotional response. Pretty much everyone I know gave this five stars, so I’m the outlier here. See also: T.J. Klune and Matt Haig books. Well, here are a few highlighted passages before I got exasperated:
“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.”
“he hadn’t even known he could laugh before her, an all-encompassing laugh that his body seemed to have been keeping in reserve, just in case he met a completely perfect idiot. Every time Ali heard it, she looked like her body had been saving an extra pair of eyes just for him, unused until that day.”
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced