WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“A beautiful book … a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love.” —Wall Street Journal“A penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory…Nunez has a wry, withering wit.” —NPR“Dry, allusive and charming…the comedy here writes itself.” The New York … —NPR
“Dry, allusive and charming…the comedy here writes itself.” The New York Times
A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.
While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog’s care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.
Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.
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I think you really need to be a serious dog lover for this book to move you.
I didn’t finish
A beautiful exploration of (some of) the ways in which souls affect each other. Quite wonderful examination of aspects of friendship which are often overlooked or taken for granted. An easy read; highly recommended.
Loved the memoir feel and the deep feeling internal and external — loved the many writers comments woven into the book — only partly finished — I will gift it to my therapist for the holidays
This book has everything I want in a book and nothing I don’t. It has the signature Nunez quality of being funny and sad and wise all at once, her usual understated brilliant prose style. It explores issues of friendship, writing, dogs, love, death, reading, New York — what more can you ask for? Rips your heart out, but never sentimental. I read it in one sitting and look forward to reading it again, more slowly.
An amazing book, but don’t be taken in by the woman and her dog blurbs. This is about death, suicide, writers, the art of writing, philosophy, friendship and depression. Yeah, there’s also a dog and a woman and their story is pretty amazing, too. This is not a book for everyone, but for those it speaks to it’s a worthwhile journey.
I did not enjoy the writing. I kept wanting the author to get to the point. This book would be fine for a reader who likes wandering from topic to topic and back again.
Drivel
The plot of The Friend is both simple and shadowy. Following the suicide of The Narrator’s dearest friend (a fellow writer and teacher who once taught The Narrator herself and with whom she had a brief affair), The Narrator is coaxed (by The Friend’s third wife, referred to as Wife Three) to adopt The Friend’s dog, a Great Dane who is in deep mourning for his master. Although The Narrator lives in a tiny NYC apartment where dogs are prohibited and is herself grieving (and is more of a cat person anyway), she accepts this challenge.
There is a dreamlike quality to the loose plot of The Friend, leaving plenty of space for The Narrator to relay bits and pieces of conversations she had with her friend over the years, most of which were about literature, writing, publishing in today’s world as opposed to publishing in the past, and so on—and what all the changes in the book world say about our culture. Accordingly, The Friend is about loss, the loss of a loved one but also the loss of the integrity that may have once existed in the literary world, depending on whether or not you share the views of the characters.
It is fair to say that this story will appeal mostly to people who can’t live without books, especially writers but also readers, and of course to people who love dogs. But even casual readers are sure to be stirred by The Narrator’s warmth, charm, gentle humor, and unassuming intelligence. The Friend is as comforting as it is brilliant.
I loved this novel. It was one of those quiet reads that still makes you keep turning the pages. So relevant, so deep, a moving exploration of the different ways we experience grief. And yet, funny too. I highly recommend.
I bought The Friend because it won the National Book Award for Fiction this fall. As a writer, I often ask myself what makes a book an award winner. Sadly, after reading this one, I’m mystified.
The good news is that The Friend is short. And that, separated from a non-existent plot, the writing is top-notch. And that part of the story is about an aging Great Dane that is inherited by the main character when her one-time lover and longtime good friend dies.
The bad news is that the book is disjointed, more a series of essays than an actual novel. Among other topics, these essays address suicide and writers, writing as catharsis, writing and dysfunction, journaling for abused women, sex trafficking vs sex workers, psychosomatic blindness, psychosomatic muteness, and fiction versus memoir.
There were quotes, lots of quotes, by writers on writing. I’m a writer, and, frankly, they bored me.
If you like dogs, this book may appeal. Likewise, if you like reading about suicide. If you want an interesting, engrossing, and uplifting story, though, try something else.
It was just a wonderful book in general. Not something you come across every day. I truly enjoyed it
Any book about writers, dogs, and New York City is sure to grab my attention, but this one was also filled with literary trivia (not so trivial to me) and very insightful observations about life, death, communicating with other species (such as ex-lovers), etc. It’s got a slow, even pace, that only picks up at the end, where there are some twists, which I will leave to you to discover.
Beautiful, sparse, and generous examination of love and loneliness and what it means to be a writer (and person) in these difficult times.
Nunez nails the world of writers and how they relate to one another.
What a sly, poignant, original novel The Friend is. I want to read it again to see how she does it.
It is probably the most unique book I have ever read. Highly recommended it.
If you’ve ever unexpectedly lost a loved one or love a dog, especially an aging dog, you will love this book. Written with a distinct style, the narrator grieves for her friend and mentor who committed suicide as she cares for his dog. There is sorrow, but also strength, as she pushes through her own sense of loss to care for this depressed dog. A great exploration of life and death, friendship and writing. This book grabbed my heart and didn’t let go. Loved this book!
The premise is simple: a beloved close older friend (a male former professor with whom the younger writer is arguably in love–although he is serially married to others during the length of their friendship) commits suicide, and his wife begs her to adopt his gorgeous, aging, beloved Great Dane, even though her rent-controlled apartment forbids dogs and keeping him will result in eviction. She cannot bring herself to say no and becomes intensely attached to the dog, aptly named Apollo. The story is about attachment, about grief, about how the late surprise of what actually happened and what did not happen shift the reader’s perspective and understanding of friendship.
Tedious slog.