Tag Archives: fredrik backman

Aug21

Lil Red’s Book Club: My Friends By Fredrik Backman Edition

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Lil Red’s Book Club: My Friends By Fredrik Backman Edition

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! In a spoiler free setting, as always, we are going to be discussing the newest novel by Fredrik Backman called My Friends. This book is a major change of pace from my normal thrillers but is easily one of the best ones I have ever read and I truly cannot recommend it enough. It has been several days since I finished it and I can’t stop thinking about it and talking about it to literally any and everyone! Before we begin, I will be placing a trigger warning on my friends for domestic and child abuse, violence, and sexual assault. Now, let’s get to it:

Louisa has run away from her foster home but as she says, she will turn eighteen tomorrow and technically that doesn’t make her missing. It simply makes her gone. Her only person in the world, Fish, has returned to Mother Earth and she is completely alone. Minus one thing that makes her happy, a postcard of her favorite, most beloved painting in the world. It is called The One of the Sea and was the first painting ever made by the artist, C. Jat. It is being sold at an auction this very night and she will finally be able to see the only beautiful thing she has ever had with her own eyes.

Granted, being in the auction is easier said than done. Sure, she can pass as a waitress for the uber rich but they know. They know she is not one of them and a bitter old woman declares her a cockroach. Louisa does not take kindly to that at all and her sharp mouth gets her instantly thrown out of the gallery and a call is made to the police. So, she takes her backpack full of her meager belongings that is primarily made up of spray paint, goes to the alleyway behind the gallery, and begins to decorate it.

In the alley, she meets a homeless man and what she presumes to be his cat. He appears to be desperately sick and frail and can barely speak. The man likes what she is painting very much and he is the nicest adult Louisa has ever met. As he was so kind to her, she decides to be kind to him and offers him her postcard that provides her only source of comfort. Now, he can have something beautiful too and they paint together. With his spray paint, the man creates his signature until they are rudely interrupted by the police and a wild chase ensues. Before Louisa runs away, she promises the man she will find him tomorrow and they can paint again.

As Louisa makes her getaway, the police are questioning the homeless man when they are interrupted again. This time, by a friend. His name is Ted and he tells the police that the man isn’t homeless at all. He is the artist whose painting, The One of the Sea, is being auctioned off. The artist passes out, wakes up in the hospital with Ted by his side, and with his dying breath tells him to find Louisa because she is one of them. And that is when the real story begins.

Ted finds Louisa in the alleyway where she promised the artist she would meet him and has something for her. He hands her a box that contains the most wonderful painting in the world. The artist said that artists should die poor and he sold all of his belongings to buy back his painting and see it hanging up one more time. Rather than be delighted, Louisa is affronted. How can she possibly be responsible for a painting so beautiful and valuable? And what in the world is she going to do with it? Everyone will think it was stolen.

After copious amounts of bickering, Ted goes against his better judgement and agrees to let Louisa come with him back to his hometown. There is someone there who might be able to help sell the painting. The unlikely pair board a train. Louisa who knows no fear and Ted who is afraid of everything. Ted isn’t just a random person though, he is one of the people in the painting. You see, The One of the Sea isn’t of the sea at all. Sure, there is the sea and a pier, but it’s a painting of laughter. A painting of three teenagers that you can just barely make out who look like they are in stitches together. Barely anyone notices them in the painting because they are looking at the sea but they are all Louisa can think about.

Every night, Louisa would go to sleep thinking about those friends. Thinking that when she woke up, she would be at the pier with them and they would teach her how to swim. They were her friends too. She asks Ted to tell her all about them and he does. He tells her of the summer when three people changed his life for forever. Rather, how they changed each other’s lives. And after that summer, none of them will ever be the same. Who were these remarkable people? And who was the artist, really? Read My Friends to find out!

Reading My Friends was like reading a book of poetry. Fredrik Backman crafted every single word in this book with the most tender care and you could find something that moves you in every sentence. Something that makes you laugh out loud, something that makes you cry, something that makes you happy to feel anything at all. And, believe you me, I did a lot of crying while reading this book. But I also laughed and fell in love with each character and it was such a cathartic experience.

My Friends goes back and forth from real time to Ted’s story twenty-five years ago and you could swear that it just happened yesterday. And, in a way, it is because Louisa is hearing it for the very first time too. And, through his story, Louisa is able to see real beauty for the first time in her life. She is able to be wrapped in words by an adult who doesn’t raise his voice or fists. She drives Ted absolutely crazy but is simply impossible not to love. Louisa reminded the artist of his own friends and through their journey, Ted learns that she is one of them indeed. Maybe more than anyone else in the whole world and it was a gift to read both of their worlds expand. To learn that no one is really as alone as they may seem.

I am going to award My Friends with a ten million out of ten stars. This is a book for everyone and should not be skipped on. I think you will love it just as much as I did!

Have you read My Friends yet? What did you think of it? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar27

Lil Red’s Book Club: A Man Called Ove By Fredrik Backman Edition

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Lil Red’s Book Club: A Man Called Ove By Fredrik Backman Edition

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! Without giving any spoilers away, as per ushe, we will be discussing Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove. I am genuinely unsure as to why I haven’t read this book until now and am kicking myself in the butt for it because it was SO good. This bittersweet tale made me laugh, cry, and fall in love with the old curmudgeon and the people who consistently bothered him. Before we begin, I will be placing a trigger warning for terminal illness, suicide attempts, and miscarriages. Now, let’s get started:

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Widower Ove lives in a tidy development of row houses and is convinced that he is surrounded by idiots. There is a right and wrong way to do things and rules to follow, according to Ove, and if you can’t do that… Well, you’re the one in the wrong. Ove lived a life of hardship and tragedy and losing his beloved wife, Sonja, was the final straw. Forced into retirement with not even his job to keep him occupied and an empty house, Ove is ready to die and be reunited with the only person who he loved and who saw him fully and completely. If only his neighbors would leave him in peace, he would have been with Sonja days ago.

The disturbances begin with the arrival of Ove’s new neighbors “The Pregnant One” and “The Lanky One” or Parvaneh and Patrick, respectively. With two little girls in tow, they moved into the development with a bang by destroying Ove’s flowerbeds and mail box. Every suicide attempt is foiled by Parvaneh’s impeccable timing with requests to borrow tools, needing a ride, or delivering a meal to his doorstep. It’s not like Ove hates the new family, but he doesn’t like them very much. However, the new couple and their little girls take a shine to him.

Every day, Ove prepares himself to die and every day he holds off because of a new way that he has been bothered. There’s the mangy cat he begrudgingly became the owner of, his neighborhood that he closely monitors, his annoying neighbors, and an evil man who drives a Skoda. And, of course, Parvaneh and her family won’t leave him alone to the point where the unthinkable happens; He begins to grow fond of them too.

Bold, sweet, pregnant Parvaneh is quite possibly the only person in the world who refuses to let Ove speak out of line and scolds him when he is being rude. She quickly becomes friends with other people in the neighborhood and before you know it, Ove’s house feels like a hotel with people and the cat coming in and out. Parvaneh fills Ove’s life with new people and projects and he doesn’t have the time to die anymore… There is a war coming.

Anita and Rune were Ove and Sonja’s best friends and neighbors. Anita and Sonja got on like two peas in a pod and Rune and Ove enjoyed tinkering in the shed together in silence. No one knows exactly how the feud between Rune and Ove began, but two close friends turned into bitter rivals seemingly over night. It’s a mystery the last time Ove spoke to Rune and he had no idea until Anita knocked on his door that he has Alzheimer’s. It turns out the evil man in the Skoda who can’t follow rules is there to take Rune into a home claiming that Anita no longer can care for him herself.

Ove knows what must be done and him and his new friends form a task force to keep Rune at home. He even finds it somewhere in his heart to forgive. Ove is not the same man who was ready and willing to die every day because he finally found other people to live for. What will become of Ove and his companions who brought him back to life? Read A Man Called Ove to find out!

Saying that I loved A Man Called Ove is a severe understatement and I think that every single person should read this book. There were no twists and turns in A Man Called Ove and it was very easy to see where the story was going. This was just fine with me because the book was about the journey more than the ending. The journey of a man who was ready to die that learned how to smile again thanks to people who he used to find bothersome.

There were plenty of parts in A Man Called Ove that made me incredibly sad, but so many more that were absolutely joyous. Maybe not in as boisterous of a way as the darling Parvaneh – just in a way that was simply Ove. This book was like a textbook of how Ove became who he is and you learn that he is not a bitter old man like people believe. He is a man who bad things happened to, a man who likes things just so, and a man who still has some fight in him yet.

Other than the evil man in the Skoda, you will be enamored with the zany cast of players who weave their way into Ove’s life. People who he never would have associated with before he began seeing the world differently. Each person sees Ove so very differently than he sees himself and through their infernal pestering, he learns to accept company from someone who isn’t Sonja. Ove still misses his beloved more than words can say, but his new friends and perspective gave him a new lease on life, which he rolled his eyes and took.

I couldn’t imagine awarding A Man Called Ove with anything less than ten out of ten stars. If you are late to the party on reading this book like I was, READ IT IMMEDIATELY. Now, I am all set to see A Man Called Otto with America’s sweetheart, Tom Hanks! 😀

What are you currently reading? What should I read next? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah