My Friends is chock-full of the wisdom and poignancy we’ve come to expect from Fredrik Backman. This time, he uses his insightful storytelling skills to spin the tale of four teenage friends who weather the hardships of growing up poor and dealing with stressful home lives. Twenty-five years after their last summer together, some of the now adult friends cross paths with a teenage kindred spirit and she becomes an ad hoc member of their tribe.

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Let’s begin with a My Friends summary. Wish me luck because it’s rather difficult to describe. I’ll spend most of the summary on the first part of the novel because it plays such an important role in setting up the rest of the story.

In the opening scene of the novel, soon to be 18-year-old Louisa sneaks into an art auction to see her favorite painting before it is sold. Louisa has had a tough childhood, bouncing between numerous foster care homes. One of the homes had a postcard of the painting, known as The One of the Sea, and Louisa was drawn to it. Despite its name and vast amount of blue ocean, Louisa thinks it’s really about the three small figures on a pier at the side of the painting. They appear to be laughing, and Louisa marvels at the talent of an artist who is able to paint laughter.

The artist is, in fact, very talented. Known as C. Jat (an alias), he is renowned in the art world and his works fetch a high price. But he wasn’t always a wealthy, acclaimed artist – 25 years ago, he was laughing with his friends on that pier and working on his first painting – The One of the Sea.

Louisa is quickly chased from the auction house when it’s discovered she has a backpack with several cans of spray paint in it. Although she’s there to pay homage to her favorite work of art, she’s mistaken for a crazy climate activist bent on destruction. So, she runs out of the building and ducks down an alley where she encounters… C. Jat.

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She doesn’t recognize the artist and thinks he’s homeless. It’s an understandable mistake because the artist is ill and looks unkempt, but they both start to spray paint on a wall – she draws cockroaches, and he paints his signature skulls – and Louisa figures out who he is. Fate has brought the budding artist and the dying artist together.

The artist was hiding near the auction because his childhood friend Ted was inside bidding on The One of the Sea. The artist sold everything he owned to purchase the painting that launched his career, the one with the most sentimental value. And then he died.

He was taken with Louisa and told Ted that she’s “one of them.” And to Ted’s chagrin, the artist leaves the expensive painting to Louisa as a deathbed wish. When Ted tracks Louisa down, she’s also chagrined because she has left her foster home and is sleeping in cars she breaks into. She’s in no position to accept an expensive work of art.

Ted says he knows someone back in his hometown who can help her sell the painting, and the two board a train to the little seaside town.

During the journey, they get to know a lot about each other’s personalities, and so do readers. Ted is introverted and reserved. He has always loved books and worked as a teacher until a student stabbed him in the leg. When the artist died, he lost the love of his life.

Louisa, on the other hand, is loud and enjoys good naturedly harassing and embarrassing Ted. She, too, has experienced a recent loss – her only friend who died of an overdose. Despite their extreme differences, their losses bring them closer together.

The train ride gives Louisa the opportunity to pump Ted for information about the artist and the group of four friends, and he obliges by sharing stories about the artist, Joar, Ali, and himself. They were a tight-knit group who knew that even if their home lives were bad (parents included an abuser, alcoholics, and a chronically ill father) they could count on their friends to add light to their lives, often in the form of laughter.

Ted tells many stories about what the group of friends did collectively and individually, but perhaps the most fateful tale is the one about how the artist’s first painting came to be. The artist, who we finally learn was nicknamed Kim Kim, was high on talent but low on self-confidence. His friends had to strong arm him into entering an art contest and even bought him supplies. And then right before the contest, and after the painting was complete, they learned that Kim Kim was too old to enter the children’s art contest. So they broke into a museum and hung the painting on a wall, because that’s the kind of friends they were – loyal and willing to break and enter. This sets the ball rolling for the artist’s eventual success.

The other childhood stories are too numerous to discuss, so I’ll end the summary of My Friends here.

My Friends is an excellent novel, full of both happy and sad memories, wistful nostalgia, compassion and understanding, friendship, and love.

The characters are memorable and embody a wide array of human traits and characteristics – hope, anger, love, reluctant trust, insecurities, loyalty, fear, and the kind of wisdom that’s gained from experience. And because most of the stories are about young teenagers, strong emotions are on full display. I especially liked Ted and Louisa, the unlikely travel companions. Some of their interactions are priceless.

The themes of friendship and love were so well done. Every kid should have friends as welcoming and supportive as the four kids in the seaside village. They said goodbye with, “Tomorrow!”, which reassured them that someone would be there for them, even if their families weren’t. So sweet.

I highly recommend My Friends to anyone with a soul. Just kidding. I think people who enjoy meaningful contemporary literature that provides plenty to think about will like My Friends.

I appreciate Fredrik Backman’s writing so much that I’ve read three of his other books. Check out my thoughts on:

A Man Called Ove

Anxious People

Beartown