P.S. no spoilers here, so you may proceed safely!
I got this book as a gift from my partner, and it was recommended by the booksellers in the shop he bought it from. The story revolves around an orphan Louisa, four friends from the past, and their connection through art over a period of decades.
I found this book and easy read and it was a real page-turner, with the plot leaving you hanging for more at the end of each chapter. However, I found some parts of the book slightly unrealistic, and probably trying a bit too hard to sound profound. Whether this is due to the translation of the book is unclear – it was originally written in Swedish, and then later translated to English. For a translated book, it was actually written very well, and I didn’t notice any strange mannerisms or odd phrasing that you sometimes find in translated books. If I hadn’t looked up Fredrik Backman and realised he was Swedish (and subsequently realised that the book was originally written in Swedish), I would probably not have known that the book was translated at all.
With that being said, the characters did seem to be written/described/act a bit strangely in the book. For example, 17-year-old Louisa does not appear to think or speak like what you would expect someone of her age to speak, and throughout the story the narration is (intentionally) vague. I enjoyed the vagueness that kept me going back for more, however it seems slightly unrealistic that someone in real life would actually speak so poetically or vaguely.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a feel-good book about friendship and art. Although it seemed slightly unrealistic and probably went a bit heavy-handed on the intensity/faux-profoundness, it was still an enjoyable read overall, and I would recommend it to others for an easy, cosy read.
Overall rating: 4.5 stars 🌟
P.S. my cat chewed off a corner of the book when I was not looking, so that made me sad.