My Friends: A Novel

thenextgoodbook.com

What’s it about?

Louisa is turning eighteen and will finally be able to leave foster care. She does not have much in her life except a love of art. When she accidentally meets her favorite artist and his best friend, Ted, a new adventure begins. This book alternates between the present with Louisa’s story and the past, told mainly by Ted.

What did it make me think about?

The power of friendship and the power of art.

Should I read it?

This book is quintessential Fredrik Backman- so if you liked A Man Called Ove, Anxious People, or any of his other books, you will also like this one. I am always amazed by the simplicity of his sentences and the complexity of his themes. He drops thought-worthy ideas throughout his books, “…because that is the worst sort of gossip: the sort that is discussed as concern,” or “Being a parent is so strange, all our children’s pain belongs to us, but so does their joy.”

In this story, the four childhood friends are the anchor for me. I also appreciated the weight of Louisa’s story and the author’s ability to bring it all together at the end.

So, with great admiration, I share that many of his books are just okay for the first 75% of the story. Then, by the time I turn the last page, I am kind of in awe. I am not sure how I feel about that. It makes for an uneven novel for me, but I always admire his talent.

This will be a favorite of book clubs next year. There are so many interesting themes and characters to discuss.

Quote-

“Nothing weighs more than someone else’s belief in you.”

The plot is fast paced,like gulping down handfuls of candy. Sadly, the writing is so bad it made my teeth hurt.

“The artist’s bookcases were full of poets, like the bookcases of anyone trying to find out how everyone else copes.” So weird that I have to say that I didn't love this. There were aspects of it that I enjoyed, like the way Backman captured the essence of teenage friendship with all of its awkwardness and big unexpressed love. I liked (some of) the ruminating around the value and importance of art to us as a species. I enjoyed Backman's signature humour and heartfelt writing style whenever it poked its head out once in a while. What I was not a fan of was that it felt like parts of the novel were one big brain-dump with ramblings trying to be profound. At times I wasn't sure where the author was taking me. But even when I did know where we were going, I didn't want to go there. For some reason I have recently been reading a lot of books with heavy themes including grief, childhood abuse and trauma, so I think I am at my limit with trauma-porn for now. Ultimately, this led to a less than entertaining reading experience for me. I did go into this blindly, trusting that I would love it as much as I have loved other books by this author and was very much let down But maybe it's just me, judging from the glowing reviews other people are writing.

Probably one of my favorite books this year. Just a wonderful story of friendship, loss, love and growing up.

Absolutely loved this! Highly recommend.