My Friends: A Novel
TLDR: “Absorbing story about childhood friendships”
A friend recommended this. It’s by the same Swedish author who wrote the book that became the Tom Hanks movie A Man Called Otto.
Louisa is a troubled 18-year-old-girl who is fresh out of foster homes and mourning the loss of a friend. She attempts to sabotage the auction of a painting, and happens to meet the artist and his friends.
The story that unfolds happens over two timelines: 25 years in the past, when the artist and his friends were 14 years old; and in the present, while Louisa takes a train ride with the artist’s friend to his hometown.
It’s the story of childhood friendships and summers spent together in the supposed innocence of youth. I say “supposed,” because every character has some level of darkness in their life. All throughout the book, there’s a real sense of foreboding – a seemingly inevitable event is going to happen, you just don’t know when or how. There’s lots of foreshadowing as the characters in the present recount what happened 25 years prior.
It’s a novel about life and about art: what we find beautiful and inspiring about art, and how that reverberates throughout our lives.
I read it over a 22-hour trip into Germany. It’s an absorbing tale. I’m a better person for having read it.
Book Data
- Author
- Fredrik Backman
- Year
- Pages
- 448
- Acquired
- Not recorded
- Open Library
- OL42407794W
- Wikipedia
- My_Friends_(Backman_novel)
- I have read this book. According to my records, I completed it on .
- I own (or have license to) an electronic copy of this book.