This book has it all.... love, loss, excellent characters, a courtroom scene, steamy sex, major tragedy, and several twists along the way. I thought it was great! There are several threads running at the same time with the author jumping into different times through the novel. Keeping up isn't easy but doable and worth it.
I don't want to say anything because it would only ruin it. Just read it. Unless you are someone who thinks you can't love two people at the same time. - June
I loved Beantown. And Us Against You. And A Man Called Ove. And Anxious People. So I was very excited to read My Friends. It has the same familiar writing style - witty, great character development, friendships among the characters. But there was part of me that was disappointed with this novel. I felt that the banter between the young friends was overdone - forced dialogue trying to be clever and funny every time. And the constant foreshadowing got tired after a while when I wanted to scream - Just get on with it!!
This is the story of friendship between 4 teenagers. They are all nerdy and come from either dysfunctional or abusive homes. Parts of their stories are truly hard to read. But they find each other and their friendship is magical. One of them is an artist, and we meet him later in his life when his first and most famous painting has been auctioned off.
The second storyline is Louisa's. She and Ted, one of the original four, travel back to his hometown with the painting. Ted spends most of his time sighing (I wish I'd read this on my Kindle so I could search the number of times he does this) and comes across as pretty weak. But Louisa is feisty and fun and anxious to learn the story of the four friends.
I do recommend this. I just felt it dragged a bit and the humorous dialogue got tired. - June
In the 1950's in a small town in Minnesota, a wealthy farmer is found dead by a river. This novel is about finding his killer but also about the people in this town.... the sheriff, the folks who work at the diner, a retired lawyer who moved back to town... many more. Good guys and bad guys. The book deals with racial tension when many of the people in the town point to the Native American as the person who did the killing. Or his Japanese wife who is not welcomed there. It also touches on sexual and physical abuse towards children. Lots going on here....
This was a quick, exciting read and I do recommend it. I don't think it's the best I've read by this author but it's good. - June
