Akankshya’s review of My Friends > Likes and Comments

whattttt a new Fredrik Backman? omgah

L. Alex A Henry wrote: "whattttt a new Fredrik Backman? omgah"

Yeah! In May 2025 though 🙈

Congrats Akankshya! I’m so happy for you! Hope you love it 🥰🥳

Esta wrote: "Congrats Akankshya! I’m so happy for you! Hope you love it 🥰🥳"

Thanks Esta ❤️❤️

Akankshya wrote: "L. Alex A Henry wrote: "whattttt a new Fredrik Backman? omgah"

Yeah! In May 2025 though 🙈"

excited to hear what you think! :D

Congrats, Akankshya! I'm so happy for you, and a teeny bit jealous! I hope the gods give me a Christmas gift as well. Fingers crossed!

Rosh wrote: "Congrats, Akankshya! I'm so happy for you, and a teeny bit jealous! I hope the gods give me a Christmas gift as well. Fingers crossed!"

Thank youu!!
I totally understand—I've been wishing for this one ever since I saw the announcement :D

I am SO sorry to hear this one missed the mark. Unnecessary verboseness really takes away from the reading experience. I completely understand where you are coming from. I hope your next book hits all the marks.

Wonderful review, Akankshya.

Oh no, I am so sad as well as sorry to see this review. :( I still anticipate the book, but perhaps I should tone down my excitement. Thanks for your honest review, Akankshya.

Jonas wrote: "I am SO sorry to hear this one missed the mark. Unnecessary verboseness really takes away from the reading experience. I completely understand where you are coming from. I hope your next book hits ..."

Thank you, Jonas! Exactly, thanks for understanding :D

Rosh wrote: "Oh no, I am so sad as well as sorry to see this review. :( I still anticipate the book, but perhaps I should tone down my excitement. Thanks for your honest review, Akankshya."

I was a little sad too, but I'm sure my review will become an outlier. I hope you have a better reading experience than mine, Rosh! :D

Taufiq wrote: "Wonderful review, Akankshya."

Thanks Taufiq!

I appreciate your candid review Akankshya ml! Sorry it didn’t hit the mark for you. I understand how you feel, I felt similarly about one of his other books which I ended up being an outlier on ❤️ Onwards!

Esta wrote: "I appreciate your candid review Akankshya ml! Sorry it didn’t hit the mark for you. I understand how you feel, I felt similarly about one of his other books which I ended up being an outlier on ❤️ ..."

Thank youu dear Esta! ❤️❤️
I know, I always liked Backman's style up til now, but can finally understand why it may not work for someone

Eep! Going to have to reset my expectations, it seems. Great review, Akankshya!

Yun wrote: "Eep! Going to have to reset my expectations, it seems. Great review, Akankshya!"

I'm guessing I'll be the outlier though—hope your read is better than mine, Yun!

I kept comparing it to the Beartown series and I just connected to that much more.

Susan McAulay wrote: "I kept comparing it to the Beartown series and I just connected to that much more."

That makes sense! I needed a stronger connection to the characters here, which I felt in Man Called Ove, Anxious People (literally all his other novels lol) than here too...

I felt the same way. I had higher expectations given that I had loved his previous works.

I feel the same :(

I rated this 2.5 as well which was disappointing since I’ve loved the rest of his books. This one just came across as a little cheesy to me. I don’t know how to describe it. It just felt off.

I wanted to love it, but it may be my least favorite of all of his books. I was feeling alone till I saw your review and tbh I rounded up to a four star so that I didn’t seem like a monster for not loving it!

Eila wrote: "I feel the same :("

Brenda wrote: "I felt the same way. I had higher expectations given that I had loved his previous works."

I agree! Guess our expectations were also a factor when reading this one :(

Susan wrote: "I rated this 2.5 as well which was disappointing since I’ve loved the rest of his books. This one just came across as a little cheesy to me. I don’t know how to describe it. It just felt off."

Cheesy is probably the word I was going for too, hard agree on that one :)

Steph wrote: "I wanted to love it, but it may be my least favorite of all of his books. I was feeling alone till I saw your review and tbh I rounded up to a four star so that I didn’t seem like a monster for not..."

Same...I do sometimes round up out of some level of kindness too, so I definitely understand that, Steph! :D

I agree with your review 100%.

I am about a 1/3 of the way through the book and unfortunately I have to admit that I feel the same way as you do. Of course it's a great read in many ways and I love his writing style but so far I feel detached from the story. It doesn't carry the same warmth and inclusion that anxious people did... at least so far. I still have 2/3s of the book To Go

In some ways it feels like his response to the Goldfinch. And I also felt like he relied too much on his cute style of writing. It did not capture anything new for me, it felt like he was rewriting or, at least attempting to rewrite previous relationships from other books

Tarik wrote: "I am about a 1/3 of the way through the book and unfortunately I have to admit that I feel the same way as you do. Of course it's a great read in many ways and I love his writing style but so far I..."

Tarik wrote: "In some ways it feels like his response to the Goldfinch. And I also felt like he relied too much on his cute style of writing. It did not capture anything new for me, it felt like he was rewriting..."

Well, I hope you end up liking it by the end, but I felt the same way and I didn't...
Yes, the warmth in this story felt too manufactured to me, and I didn't feel connected to these characters as I did in Anxious People, Man called Ove.

Feel exactly the same. I LOVE his books but I had to struggle to finish this. I kept thinking about “A Little Life” another that people raved about and I couldn’t get over how so much bad could continually happen to 4 people. This felt like the first 90% was tragedy after tragedy - delivered in a heavy handed way and the last 10% of the book was the joy you normally find in Backmans complicated work . So happy to have this in the rear view

Thank you. I listened to it, which took forever and it felt so dark and sad. Maybe reading it would have been easier. Glad it’s done.

I agree! I gave it 3 stars. His writing in this one felt flat to me. All these complicated, beautiful characters, yet I couldn’t connect because of the writing style (which wasn’t an issue for me in his other novels). I found myself just wanting to get thru it, didn’t become emotionally corrected or cry (I am an ugly crier on heart wrenching books- like I’ll Give You the Sun and the Great Alone 😭 two of my faves). Anyway, glad to see some others that felt the same about the book.

I agree I love his books but this one not so much.

“Verbose, meandering, sachrine” — Hit the nail right on the head!! Excellent overall review.

Frederick Backman is my — iif not my favorite author of all time. Beartown is my Holy Grail. I did still give this book 5 stars.

But it does not compare to his others.

It feels a bit sacrilegious to say this, but, gulp! — the writing felt manipulative.

I am half way through this one and I’m struggling with it. I came to the reviews to find someone who felt the same as me so thank you! Like you, I just can’t seem to connect with the characters. I love his writing but I’m just finding this one too long winded. 😞

Like Hozier says, "too sweet for me."

I only rated this a generous 3. It just wasn’t as deep as his other books. Too surface. I felt it was repetitive. How many times did we have to hear about 12 year olds on the dock.

I am glad to see I’m not the only Backman fan struggling with this book. I waited for weeks to get it from the library. After absolutely loving The Answer is No and Anxious People, My Friends so far is falling flat for me. As others have said, I can’t seem to connect with the characters or make myself care. I’ll finish it, keep hoping I’ll enjoy it more. Disappointed.

Wow! Glad I found some kindred spirits here. I love, love Backman but for all the reasons stated in other comments, this one fell short for me. It reminded me of a cozier Demon Copperhead (if cozier can be used about that book at all!!!) with so much tragedy. The conversations between Louisa and Ted on the train were the best part for me.

Pretty much what I felt. I guess this time the literary muse wasn't on his side this time :-)

My feelings exactly…too much meandering. I would have given it one less star had I not finished it. So it’s a generous four from me.

Agree. Just dragged out too long. Wanted it to end

20% in and not hooked yet- thank you for putting my ambivalence into words.

I’m halfway through this book and started wondering if it was just me or that there might be others who feel what I’m feeling. Your words resonate with me completely. Thank you.🙏🏻

It took me forever to finish. I wanted to love it, but it really dragged for me.

I reluctantly gave it the same rating for the same reasons. It’s too easy rating books 4 and 5 stars. I think we need at times to bit a bit more honest and critical . Otherwise it’s hard for other readers to believe in the rating system if that makes any sense. Thank you.

Yes! This review is exactly how I felt. It broke my heart that I couldn't love it. It tried too hard. It was melodramatic. And for what? Nothing bad actually happened in the end? Ugh!

Same !!!

I love the author possibly more than I love the books but I reach for them when I want some literary coziness. These felt like characters we’ve met before … the leftovers from a Beartown B team.

Thanks for reading the review, everyone! I'm sorry I couldn't reply individually to everyone, but I did read through all your comments. I'm happy people understand my experience reading this book. Hope our next read goes better lol :D