“My Friends” by Fredrick Backman is a literary fiction novel that centers around an orphan named Louisa who lost her best friend Fish and becomes obsessed with a painting that shows a group of teens near water. The book starts with Louisa sneaking into an event where the art piece is being shown. She gets chased out and runs into a man who she thinks is homeless, but it is actually the artist of her favorite painting named “C. Jat”, whose real name is revealed later on to be Kim. The name “C. Jat” is actually his artist name, which has all the initials for his friends who are: Christian, Joar, Ali, and Ted. Louisa wants to discover the true story behind the piece, and we learn about the group of friends throughout the book.

Now, do not let the happy summer cover fool you into thinking this book is a fun light read. Absolutely not! This is a dark, tense, triggering book with lots of traumatic events being mentioned. Please be warned that there are talks of self-harm, drug usage, abuse (physical and mental), etc. Please be wary of this when you read the book because I went into this book completely blind and found it very difficult to read... because I was literally sobbing during multiple points reading this. I cried a total of 6 times, by the way. Rude of you, Freddy...I was so excited to read your work, and you traumatized me.

I am not usually a big fan of literary fiction novels, but I wanted to read this book because I have heard nothing but good things about Fredrick Backman’s writing. Sad to say that I own five of his books that have been left unread on my shelves. Not for long, though, because I am absolutely obsessed with his writing and now would read anything he writes... even his grocery list.

I was impressed with some of the quotes that I read in this book. One quote that made me laugh was, “rich people love tiny food. Everything else should be big, except for taxes and sandwiches.” We love a quote dragging the rich….right? Of course we do.

Even though this is not a genre that I normally love to read, I have to say that I was sucked into the story immediately just based on how good the writing was. I found myself invested in Louisa and her struggles. I felt the power the painting had over her and wanted to know the real story of the group of friends as well. This book was powerful in showing the struggles of friendships, how you have to believe in yourself to accomplish your goals, and how you’re never really alone as long as you have love in your heart.

When the artist C. Jat dies he leaves Louisa the painting as his final wish, which made me cry immediately. He knew that Louisa would love having that painting, and selling it would change her life. It was a beautiful act of love for someone he just met, and it really touched me to read about it. Ted, one of C. Jat’s oldest friends help Louisa with the painting by telling her how the painting came to be and bringing her to his hometown.

I don’t want to spoil the end of this book because you really should read it for yourself, but just know that this book will touch you in ways that make you feel vulnerable and seen. I have sadly related to some of the events that happened in this book, so those moments felt very precious to me. I also was scared to death when they left the painting on the train and when Ted got robbed! Might as well call yourself a thriller writer, Freddy. My heart was racing! To end my review, I would just like to say Fredrick, after reading your writing, “I love you, and I trust you.”

Thank you to Netgalley + Simon and Schuster for the eARC of this novel!