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umbrionna 's review for:
My Friends
by Fredrik Backman
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
And the saga of books with good fart jokes continue. If I could pick one theme for August.. it would be flatulence.
Honestly, if I had a dime for every book I read this month that referenced farts in like kind of a funny cheeky way.. I’d had two dimes which isn’t a lot but damn does it still feel kind of random!
I feel I am internally judging this book harshly because my expectations were so high after the first 15%. In so many ways it lived up to expectations. Yet, the ending felt like an antihero and not the villain I was promised. Is it wrong to wish the book was sadder? Regardless, what an incredibly beautiful narrative about grief and somehow also happiness. I made 542 annotations so it must have spoken to me on some level.
Fart counter: 16 to
Star counter: 5 because I’m very nice, 4.8ish if I was being slightly less nice.
—
A quote is a quote is a quote:
‘But he’s always been scared, scared of everything.
“Being human is to grieve, constantly.”
“How the hell do all the rest of you cope?”’
‘[He] has been terrified that everyone he loves will die. Sooner or later he’ll be proven right.’
‘How can someone who meant everything to [Him] become… nothing at all?’
‘“I wanted to be able to stop time… so I would never run out of people.”’
BROOO
‘[He] looks at his watch, for the first time in his life he wants time to go faster, only someone who still has all their people left wants to stop time.’
BROOOOOOOO
‘“Art is coincidence, love is chaos…”’
‘“Babies teach us not to be scared of death. That’s how we realize we can’t wish for eternal life. Because if no one died, we would have to ban new people from being born. And when the playgrounds are empty, when the last pair of rain boots has been grown out of, when the last puddle has been jumped in… What would we want eternity for then…?”’
‘“What I hate most isn’t that people die. What I hate most is that they’re dead. That I’m alive, without them.”’
‘“You haven’t called to say we’re coming?”
“No.”
Because he would never do that to her. Every time her phone rings, she still thinks someone has died.’
‘“Isn’t it like, totally unbelievable that we even exist? So it won’t be a tragedy when we don’t exist anymore! It’s just cool, really cool, that we happened at all.”’
‘“He’s thought so many times as an adult that it’s a lie that people are scared of being alone, because what we fear is being abandoned. You can choose to be alone, but no one chooses to be left.”’
‘That’s the worst thing about death, that it happens over and over again. That the human body can cry forever.’
If these quotes don’t speak to you then you might not be anxious and/or depressed. I love that for you. Thoughts about the future grief I will go through plague me constantly. This book felt vindicating, it was a relief to read someone else’s reflections on this very human experience.
Honestly, if I had a dime for every book I read this month that referenced farts in like kind of a funny cheeky way.. I’d had two dimes which isn’t a lot but damn does it still feel kind of random!
I feel I am internally judging this book harshly because my expectations were so high after the first 15%. In so many ways it lived up to expectations. Yet, the ending felt like an antihero and not the villain I was promised. Is it wrong to wish the book was sadder? Regardless, what an incredibly beautiful narrative about grief and somehow also happiness. I made 542 annotations so it must have spoken to me on some level.
Fart counter: 16 to
Star counter: 5 because I’m very nice, 4.8ish if I was being slightly less nice.
—
A quote is a quote is a quote:
‘But he’s always been scared, scared of everything.
“Being human is to grieve, constantly.”
“How the hell do all the rest of you cope?”’
‘[He] has been terrified that everyone he loves will die. Sooner or later he’ll be proven right.’
‘How can someone who meant everything to [Him] become… nothing at all?’
‘“I wanted to be able to stop time… so I would never run out of people.”’
BROOO
‘[He] looks at his watch, for the first time in his life he wants time to go faster, only someone who still has all their people left wants to stop time.’
BROOOOOOOO
‘“Art is coincidence, love is chaos…”’
‘“Babies teach us not to be scared of death. That’s how we realize we can’t wish for eternal life. Because if no one died, we would have to ban new people from being born. And when the playgrounds are empty, when the last pair of rain boots has been grown out of, when the last puddle has been jumped in… What would we want eternity for then…?”’
‘“What I hate most isn’t that people die. What I hate most is that they’re dead. That I’m alive, without them.”’
‘“You haven’t called to say we’re coming?”
“No.”
Because he would never do that to her. Every time her phone rings, she still thinks someone has died.’
‘“Isn’t it like, totally unbelievable that we even exist? So it won’t be a tragedy when we don’t exist anymore! It’s just cool, really cool, that we happened at all.”’
‘“He’s thought so many times as an adult that it’s a lie that people are scared of being alone, because what we fear is being abandoned. You can choose to be alone, but no one chooses to be left.”’
‘That’s the worst thing about death, that it happens over and over again. That the human body can cry forever.’
If these quotes don’t speak to you then you might not be anxious and/or depressed. I love that for you. Thoughts about the future grief I will go through plague me constantly. This book felt vindicating, it was a relief to read someone else’s reflections on this very human experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail