Sigrid Nunez

"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 ... 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"--Amazon.com.

The Friend

It wasn’t the best, wasn’t the worst. I loved loved loved the style. Theme and topic, not so much. Would be interested to read more of Sigrid Nunez. 

Emma

Ryan Mateyk

This was really beautiful. Less of a novel and more of a letter to the narrator’s recently deceased best friend. It’s a meditation on love, death, grief, dogs and the creative process. I feel like this could have been more meaningful to a writer, or artist, as the narrator often ponders on how grief can both hinder or catalyze the creative process. I really enjoyed this and Nunez is a really talented writer. Would recommend 👍🏻

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: a moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. 'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' Financial Times 'Delicious ... An intensely pleasurable read because it is so accessible, capacious and clever' Sunday Times 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 traumatised 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 unravelling. 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. "A beautiful book ... a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love." -Wall Street Journal A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * A Financial Times 2018 Best Book: Critics Pick * A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 * A Bustle Best Fiction Book of 2018 * An NPR Best Book of 2018

Molly Bridge

Cassie B

I just finished this and I want to read it all over again. I can’t quite work out what to say about this book - Nunez’s writing style sometimes pulled me out of the narrative a little (I often had to reread to work out who was saying what - the first person narrative sometimes became a little muddled) but truly, this couldn’t even stop me from giving this book five stars. Nunez’s insight into friendships (in this case, the trickiest kind - one marred with conflict and sometimes loathing - that you can love a person who you often fundamentally disagree with or find problematic) is one of the most nuanced I can recall reading. I’m still working out how she managed to give these three characters the depth she did with such a pared back way of writing. And I don’t even know how to begin explaining my feelings about the relationship between the narrator and Apollo. Some of the best writing I’ve come across about the relationship between human & hound.

The book is sharp, funny, profoundly sad and so compassionate. Interestingly, the only character I liked was Apollo - but I found all relatable, in different ways. I love this book. I’m so glad I read it. I’m looking forward to reading it again.

A very unique read, a sort-of stream-of-consciousness style journey through grief, suicide and big dogs. Pretty funny in parts, uncomfortable in others, pretentious quite often, but actually very readable—and in the end, enjoyable.

Jack Harrison

Sameer Vasta

I struggled reading The Friend, not just because it is a novel framed by suicide and loss, but because it is a novel so focused on how writing and reading frame our capacity to cope with grief, and with the tumult of the world around us. There is a beauty to the way Ms. Nunez speaks of various kinds of “friendships” here—with mentors, with colleagues, with students, with the ex-wives of ex-lovers, with the titular friend, the dog Apollo—but there is also an incisive questioning about the nature of life, and its worth in living. This can be discomfiting if you are grappling with those questions yourself; this rumination on friends and grief and life itself is much heavier than its story, and its short length, will indicated.

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs' GRAHAM NORTON 'Delicious' SUNDAY TIMES 100 BEST SUMMER READS 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, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. 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 unravelling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. 'Very, very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. Absolutely delightful' IRISH TIMES 'I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me' WHOOPI GOLDBERG A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * A Financial Times 2018 Best Book: Critics Pick * A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 * A Bustle Best Fiction Book of 2018 * An NPR Best Book of 2018

The Friend

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