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saturnsstars 's review for:
My Friends
by Fredrik Backman
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
I think this book is going to stick with me for a long, long time. I read it a few months ago now and it keeps swirling in my head. "My Friends" is set in two timelines, the present and past. In the present, Ted and Lousia are on a train ride to sell a painting. Ted begins to tell her the story of the painting, which is really a story of his youth.
I think this book may have ruined all coming of age stories for me. It tore me through the middle and I kept reading. I teared up, I laughed. Backman writes adolescents/teenagers in such a realistic, complex way. His writing style of gorgeous and the audiobook narrator was lovely and really amplified the book for me.
I wanted this book to end any other way, honestly. I wanted something fairy-tale like to sweep through the pages and everyone to go skipping into the sunset. But it was bittersweet and realistic, everything in this book had a dull ache because you knew, on some fundamental level, that nothing could ever be like the summer when they were fourteen. I fell in love with Johar, Kim-Kim, Ali, and Ted and can still recall quotes months later.
The love of art in this book was everything to me. The perspective felt truly impactful in a way few things have.
There's just so much that leaves a pit in my stomach. Johar lived so fully because he was going to be gone by the end of the summer. Kim-Kim hated himself but was full of so much goodness, so much light. He should have got to stay by his friends' sides but to have a better future he had to leave and never come back. Ali deserved to have a future that she never got. Ted's relationship with his brother was so—so much.
I would recommend this to everyone. It's a bit slow going, but it's one of the best coming of ages I've ever read.
I think this book may have ruined all coming of age stories for me. It tore me through the middle and I kept reading. I teared up, I laughed. Backman writes adolescents/teenagers in such a realistic, complex way. His writing style of gorgeous and the audiobook narrator was lovely and really amplified the book for me.
I wanted this book to end any other way, honestly. I wanted something fairy-tale like to sweep through the pages and everyone to go skipping into the sunset. But it was bittersweet and realistic, everything in this book had a dull ache because you knew, on some fundamental level, that nothing could ever be like the summer when they were fourteen. I fell in love with Johar, Kim-Kim, Ali, and Ted and can still recall quotes months later.
The love of art in this book was everything to me. The perspective felt truly impactful in a way few things have.
I would recommend this to everyone. It's a bit slow going, but it's one of the best coming of ages I've ever read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief
Minor: Drug abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts