It’s no secret that Fredrik Backman is one of my favourite authors – everything I’ve read of his so far I have thoroughly enjoyed. Therefore, when I saw My Friends was out, it was getting rave reviews and then someone recommended it as a book I must read in 2026; it was the easiest “add to TBR” I’ve ever done. And, as expected, it was filled with everything I love about Backman.
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My Friends follows two stories – the first of Louisa, who is left an incredibly expensive painting in the will of an incredibly famous artist she only just met and the second is of the three people at the end of the pier in the painting and the artist who painted it. It’s a story of friendship, not wanting to grow up and the power art can have.
My Friends plot – 4.5/6
From the early few chapters, I knew I was going to love My Friends. Backman’s powerful writing, focusing on the importance of life and how lucky we all are to be living it, along with the interlaced tongue-in-cheek humour, had me forever wanting to read more.
As we discover more about the four friends, while also following Louisa’s modern-day story, I found myself wanting to know more and more about what else had happened to these incredible people right until the final pages of the book.
There are probably a few trigger warnings you’ll want to check on this book if those are something you need to check beforehand, as there are some tough moments to read in this book. As with every Backman story, these tough moments are written with a heavy pen but a light hand.
My Friends characters – 4.75/5
Every Backman book I’ve read, Anxious People, Beartown and A Man Called Ove have all had me deeply vouching for certain people, laughing at others and disliking some. Every single time this man writes a book, I find myself believing these people are real.
Louisa was probably my favourite character. Her interactions with Ted as Ted tells the story of his childhood with his friends is brilliant – her playing the almost daughter-like role and him playing the father-like role, despite only having known each other for less than a day!
The four (including Ted and the artist) characters we follow for merely a year are all so very Backman, too. Yes, they seem slightly unrealistic in the actions they choose to take, but having read Backman, I know this is to heighten their personalities on purpose. Joar is brave but dangerous, always aggressive towards people but also deeply, deeply loving. Ali and Joar are always arguing as Ali seems like Joar’s female equivalent with both often acting as the comic relief. Then Ted and the artist (or KimKim) are the calmest and most normal of the two, with the artist actually probably being the least interesting of them all.
Either way, Backman’s one of the greatest character writers doing it at the moment and My Friends shows that once again.
My Friends final rating – 4.5/5
I can’t say I’m overly surprised that I bloody loved My Friends by Fredrik Backman – everything this man writes I love. My Friends had me from the very early chapters and I knew once I started reading about Louisa and then more about the four friends that I wanted to pick this book up at every possible moment. I’ll put it out there that Backman is the best character writer out there at the moment and his ability to tell such poignant, powerful and interesting stories while integrating these wonderfully-written characters is why he’s such a great author. If you’ve liked other Backman books before, My Friends has all the same ingredients that make his others brilliant – stunning writing, masterfully-written characters and a story you’ll consistently find yourself wanting to read more of.
Buy a copy of My Friends from Bookshop.org
