Fredrik Backman is the accomplished author of beloved books, like A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (my review here), and Anxious People (my review here). My Friends is his newest book, and it is about four friends as teenagers, written about through flashbacks from the present day.

It goes without saying that this is an excellent writer and storyteller. He takes his time with this book; concise it is not. It examines art, and grief, and friendship, and love. It is sprinkled with great quotes (I quoted some art ones yesterday), as well as jokes, and vivid characters. Here is a sampling of other quotes from the book:

“Because art is a fragile magic, just like love, and humanity’s only defense against death. That we create and paint and dance and fall in love, that’s our rebellion against eternity. Everything beautiful is a shield.”

“…because in an ugly place, he was born with so much beauty inside him that it was like an act of rebellion. in a world full of sledgehammers, his art was a declaration of war.”

“That’s all of life. All we can hope for. You mustn’t think about the fact that it might end, because then you live like a coward, you never love too much or sing too loudly. You have to take it for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.”

This is a remarkable book, and it deserves 5 stars, but I also found the domestic violence hard to take, as well as abandonment issues, and casual theft. These aspects made the story feel real, but need to be mentioned, as they could be triggering for some.

My favorite character was Louisa, the one to whom the story of the four friends is being told. She’s a survivor, as I hope we all can be.

Did you have a band of friends you were tight with at 14? Did you love and trust them, in a difficult world? If so, you might enjoy this tale of just that kind of rare bond. This story is also about a piece of art, and the story is art in itself.