Oh, My Friends! One Novel You Absolutely Shouldn't Pass Up

Fredrik Backman got me again!

My Unabashed Praise of My Friends by Fredrik Backman

I love stories, and I treasure books. No doubt, I often write enthusiastic reviews about new releases or wax poetic about authors whose work I admire. But I don't know that I can express how much I liked My Friends by Fredrik Backman without sounding like a crazed fan and lunatic lover of literature!

My, oh my! I loved this book. I laughed out loud. Often. I cried. I gasped. Fredrick Backman turned a knife in my heart while making me howl with delight, so skillfully balancing despair with hope, and loss with love that my head spun and my heart hurt - in a good way!

No matter how the publicists described this book, I did not really know what it was about. Obviously, it had something to do with friends, and something to do with a girl and a famous piece of art.

Oh, my friends. It is about so much more!

What's Art Got to Do with It Anyway?

My Friends begins with a young girl named Louisa sneaking into an art auction so she can look at a famous painting called "The One of the Sea." While the ultra-wealthy people there see just the shades of blue, Louisa knows that the painting is NOT about the waterscape, but about the three young kids barely visible at the end of a pier on the canvas.

So begins the tale of a teenager enamored with a piece of art. Louisa's attendance at the auction sets off a wild series of events, and the relationships she forms during her adventures forever alter the trajectory of her life.

But a story about a teenaged girl being interested in a piece of art doesn't begin to explain what Backman's novel, My Friends, is really about. Trust me when I say that you will be touched by the backstories of the characters. You'll be cheering for the underdogs and hoping that the villains get their just deserts. You'll be thinking of your high school friends with longing and remembering those who are no longer with you.

The meaning of ART

I am not an artist, but I do love looking at it. (One of my biggest regrets from college is that I didn't take an art appreciation class so I could know more about it.) But this novel helps you understand the depth of feeling that happens when you connect with a painting. This is what Louisa says when she sees "The One of the Sea."

That there is a speed at which a heart can beat that you can't remember when you've stopped being young. There is art that can be so beautiful that it makes a teenager too big for her body. There is a sort of happiness so overwhelming that it is almost unbearable, your soul seems to kick its way through your bones. You can see a painting, and for a single moment of your life, just for a single breath, you can forget to be afraid. If you've experienced that, you know how it feels. If not, there probably isn't any way to describe it.

The reader is forced to contemplate what art actually is. If you had to define it, what would you say? Dozens of examples are given throughout the book, and each one made me stop to think. "Art is empathy." "Art is what we leave of ourselves in other people." "Art is your homeland." And "art is coincidence" are just a few analogies that gave me pause.

Profound Observations of the Human Condition

In typical Backman style, human behavior is encapsulated into golden nuggets sprinkled through the story:

"...the most dangerous place on earth is inside us. Fragile hearts break in palaces and dark alleys alike."

"The worst thing about being a parent: that almost everyone does their best, but almost all fail regardless."

For a woman who recently lost her husband, I was cut to the core with this observation that every time you talk about the loss of a loved one, you experience it all over again:

"That's the worst thing about death, that it happens over and over again. The human body can cry forever."

Language Lovers Take Note

The cynic in me wonders if Backman thought up all the hilarious, outlandish, over-the-top metaphors and similes himself or if he told AI to create a list of vivid analogies that he would then purposely incorporate into his text. The book is filled with vibrant phrases, wild words, and hyperbole:

"The woman pretty much has the emotional range of a lampshade."

"Angry as a wild boar that's been given a habanero suppository."

"The artist was like a paper boat headed for a waterfall."

"He had an impressive scream, somewhere between a 5-year-old who's fallen off a swing and an opera singer who's found a snake in her car"

and so many more!

There are beautiful, gorgeous sentences like, "The following day, autumn would tear September out of the exhausted hands of summer," in addition to jokes the characters tell and sharp, witty, realistic conversations.

Fredrik Backman, This is Your Invitation to Dinner!

Right now, if I could invite any author to dinner, it would be Fredrik Backman. I want to see if he is as funny in person as he is on the page. In the acknowledgments of My Friends, he apologizes to his children, saying,

"I'm sorry I'm so weird, I'm sorry I forget where I parked the car so often, I'm sorry I ate all your candy last night. I hope you know I'm doing my very best, being your dad. It's my greatest adventure. I'm so proud of you."

Writers often get lost in our own heads, oblivious to what's going on around us. I'm curious to know if Backman really does forget where he parked the car because he's so busy talking to the characters in his brain, or playing with the phrases that bounce around in his psyche.

The Redemptive Power of Friendship

If you have friends who have supported you through the tough times of your life...

If you have childhood buddies whose loving bond stayed with you through adulthood...

If you remember being young and finding refuge in other kids like you...

If you appreciate well-developed characters and astounding use of language...

Don't miss My Friends by Fredrik Backman!

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