Another good listen for a long road trip. As she turns eighteen, Louisa, who has spent most of her childhood in foster care, briefly encounters first the artist who painted a picture that has captivated her for years and then Ted, the artist’s companion. Over the course of long train trip, Ted tells the story of the last summer he, the artist, and their two friends, Joar and Ali, spent together as teenagers while youth came to an end for each of them. Even as they are separating, friendship grows and defines and binds them, and we feel Louisa gaining perspectives on friendship and life as she coaxes the story out of Ted. The sadness in each of the friends’ and Louisa’s lives is leavened by Backman’s humor, and everything (including Louisa’s later life) is tied up neatly (if a bit unrealistically in some respects) as befits a good yarn. For me, a swimming lesson about two-thirds of the way through the book marked a satisfying conclusion, but the remainder of the story continued to entertain as our road trip returned us home, even drawing me to finish listening to the last hour just after the drive ended.
I listened to a digital download of this book.