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My Friends
Fredrik Backman
Publication Date: May 6th, 2025
Atria Books
448 Pages
Amazon | Goodreads | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction
Is it too early in the year to pick my favourite read of 2025? I think not, as this will be hard to beat. You’d think that a book of nearly 500 pages would be too mundane or drawn out, but it isn’t so where Backman is concerned. Not only is this 2025’s best book, but it’s also the author’s, in my humble opinion.
Backman has insight into the human condition. Whenever I read anything by this author, it always delivers plenty of emotions. This one is a love letter to friendship. It’s about a friend group who spend the summer together that reverberates years later via a painting. Joar, Ted, Ally and the artist form a close-knit group where they can abandon their terrible homes if even for a little while. This just goes to show how important friendships have an impact on our lives.
The characters are complex, and Backman doesn’t shy away from hard topics. I especially love that he doesn’t write endings where the resolutions are nice and easy and tied up in a neat little bow. His books are raw, realistic, and dramatic. He also writes realistic dialogue with humour, but it can also be very moving at the same time. Backman simply writes about life in all its messy and beautiful glory. His writing is simple, but it touches me every single time. I have high expectations of this author, and Backman didn’t disappoint with this one. A poignant tale of friendship, trauma and healing that deserves All. The. Stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
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