MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman
“Louisa is a teenager, the best kind of human. The evidence for this is very simple: little children think teenagers are the bet humans, and teenagers think teenagers are the best humans, the only people who don’t think that teenagers are the best humans are adults. Which is obviously because adults are the worst kind of humans.”
My Friends begins in the bathroom of an art auction. There we meet our main protagonist Louisa, a troubled seventeen-year-old girl aging out of an unforgiving foster system, as she surreptitiously squeezes through a bathroom window armed with a postcard, spray paint, and a perfect plan.
From the outset, we learn several important details about Louisa:
- Tomorrow is Louisa’s 18th birthday, which for most girls might mean birthday candles and shots to make them wince, splutter, and then, ultimately, cheer. For Louisa, it means freedom. This is because Louisa has run away from her foster home, and will technically be a “missing person” until the moment she turns 18. After that, she will simply be a “gone” person – and she can finally, really be alone.
- Alone is good for Louisa because Louisa is convinced that every person, she loves dies. Three weeks ago, her best friend Fish died of an overdose. While Louisa has always known loss, having lost both her parents at a young age, the death of Fish has overwhelmed her with suffocating grief. But Louisa doesn’t blame Fish for taking the pills, she blames society for what it did to them as children. Angry particularly with adults, and most especially men.
- The postcard Louisa keeps in her backpack is her most prized possession, and the first thing she ever stole. On the postcard, the world-famous painting “The One of The Sea” is pictured. On the other side, a small message that reads:
“It is so beautiful here, the sun shines every day. Miss you, see you soon. – Mum”
It should be noted that this message was never written by Louisa’s mum. The shaky handwriting is her own.