Through a series of events, she meets her favorite famous artist, who dies suddenly and bequeaths her his most famous painting of three teenagers swimming at the end of a summer’s day. Readers do not even know the name of “the artist” until the end of the story, and readers do not know what country, what town the story takes place. I liked that about this book. I was intrigued right from the beginning of the story. The artist’s best friend and Louisa board a train, where Ted tells the backstory of the painting and the three teenagers depicted in it: Ted, Joar, and Ali.  

Backman is so witty at creating emotion, scenes, sadness, and joy. Several chapters are just Louisa and Ted talking on the train, but Backman uses flashback, which drives the plot. It is one of those books that you don’t want to let the characters go at the end. 

Nostalgia for childhood and friendships is a central theme of this book. Each character has experienced both happy and tragic events during their childhood years. These experiences shape their identities and influence their journey into adulthood. Readers can empathize with these characters and their heartbreaking stories.

“Our teenage years have to simultaneously be the brightest light and the darkest depths, because that’s how we learned to figure out our horizons.“

“The following day, autumn would tear September out of the exhausted hands of summer.“

“At the end of his life he only wished for what almost all of us wish for, to have our childhood summers back.“

Another theme is abuse. Louisa suffers from abuse in foster care. Ted, Juar, Ali, and the artist experience abuse and bullying in their childhoods. That is one of the reasons they are such close friends. It is unspoken, but they are there for each other.

“The world is extremely inventive. It has plenty of ways of breaking children.“

“Bullies always have small hearts, but big memories.“

“Human beings are capable of such unbelievable stupidity. We speak of birth of a child as a miracle, but really the miracle is everything that come after….The dinosaurs died out, but you and I and all these idiots managed to survive? We do nothing but try to find ways to destroy everything that’s keeping us alive, but we’re still here?“

“The most dangerous animal in the world is a teenage boy.“

Art. So much is said in this book about art! It’s beautiful.

“Art teaches us to mourn with others.“

“Great art is a beautiful break from human despair.

“Art doesn’t need any training. It just needs friends.“

Death.

“Death is public but dying is private, the very last private thing we have…”

I kept having to stop the audible to write down these quotes! So much depth.

The lives of these five characters will stay with you long after the story ends. Each one carries a truth, a struggle, or a quiet triumph that lingers in the heart, reminding you of what it means to be deeply human. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t want the stories to end. Kirkus Reviews says it best: “Backman is a masterful writer, his characters familiar yet distinct, flawed yet heroic.”