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Reviews tagging 'Death'

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

156 reviews

emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-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

fredrik backman can do no wrong. i absolutely loved this book

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Laughing. 

Crying. 

Smiling.

All on a loop. Frdrik Backman, the writer that you are! I think this might be in my top 3 Fredrik Backman books. No, cuz why?! Why?! Only he can make a book about a painting worthwhile. His storytelling is like no other, and just when you think you know what's going on, you just DON'T! The way he writes is unlike that of any other author; no one can compare to his writing style. Ted is literally my spirit animal. There are so many worthwhile lines in here. The commentary on friendship, adulthood, abuse, death, fear, etc was so well done. I feel like his writing really shines here. Would definitely re-read this book (and I don't re-read)

Honestly, although I love Fredrik Backman, I've never rated a single one of his books 5 stars, unfortunately (I'm very picky when it comes to 5 stars). And I think it comes down to the fact that although I'm in love with his writing style, he does do a lot of telling rather than showing. And I felt like in this book, although I loved all the characters (even warmed up to Ali), I wasn't too connected with them because I felt like we were getting told a lot of things very abruptly, instead of it progressing like an actual story would, if that makes sense. And it's because of that where I felt that disconnect towards them; I didn't feel that emotional tug, you know that would push this to be 5-stars for me!

Nonetheless, I still enjoyed this one. I don't think there will ever be a time when I don't enjoy a Fredrik Backman book, really. Shout-out to his translator and Marin Ireland, the narrator. She always does a phenomenal job narrating his books.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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: Yes

It's a book that was translated into English, so there are quite a few run-on sentences or punctuation in odd places that makes me think that there might have been some translation errors. It wasn't enough to take away from the immersion, but it did subtract from the star rating a little. Also, I'm sorry, but I kind of found Louisa's characterization to be the tiniest bit obnoxious. I know, I know, she's supposed to be that way because of her upbringing and whatnot, but I honestly sympathized with Tim at certain points. I'd be annoyed over such incessant questioning and a complete lack of any social filter from my traveling companion too.

That being said, I still very much enjoyed reading through My Friends. Not sure that this book affected me as much as it did other people, but it's still a heartfelt and emotional story about the power of art and the prevailing nature of friendship, and the language was poetic enough to tug at my heartstrings every so often. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark sad
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Complicated

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