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Elizabeth

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Elizabeth is currently reading

The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits

by Jennifer Weiner (Goodreads Author)

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Jan 19, 2026 04:37AM

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My Friends

by Fredrik Backman (Goodreads Author)

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Elizabeth said: " Very interesting book, and very nice to listen to- (highly recommend listening to the audio recording, as the reader is excellent!)
This book very very much reminds me of A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. So much so, that I wonder if the author took Very interesting book, and very nice to listen to- (highly recommend listening to the audio recording, as the reader is excellent!)
This book very very much reminds me of A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. So much so, that I wonder if the author took inspiration from that story and tried to tell a similiar one from a different place and with a different group of (younger) people. It carries the same themes of deep friendship-love, and loss, and self-doubt and tragedy and struggle and redemption and the amazing power that friends have to encircle and lift each other when the need is there. The story is poignant, rich, intimate, well told and infused with details about the characters that make you truly feel that you are there-- very clear visual images as the story is told.

However, it also suffers from the same issues of A Little Life, in that it spends too much time circling the drain on the endless tragedies. It felt like every chapter was an sadness-parade of plot, one grief and misery after the other. As if almost nothing good happened to to children at all at any point in their day. The hard things in their lives are key for understanding why they are who they are, but without sunshine to the rain, it becomes confusing at points to understand why they are good people at all. In that way, just as with A Little Life, it became challenging to continue as points, simply because of the amount of sadness and dispair and endless tragedy. Like, couldn't the janitor have at least lived for a while?
The other spot where the author needed better editing was on how it extensively preached, in 3rd party viewpoint, about the tender vulnerability of children and how parents and adults can destroy children so easily with words and rules and fists. No moment of sadness could be passed by without 3rd person scrutiny on the evils of adults. I think that if the author had just left many of the moments to just be, without commentary, it would have been much more powerful. Readers know how to read between the lines and don't need that many breadcrumbs.

With that said however, I loved this book, just like I loved A Little Life. In this book, it told us a story and allowed us to be part of these peoples' lives and to love them and hope for them and grieve for them and cheer for them. It made the characters really alive, and they will sit with you, carrying themselves in memory like friends, long after the book is done. ...more "

Jan 10, 2026 06:36PM · see review