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What Members Thought
When I looked at the colorful cover with the beautiful Great Dane, I thought I would be reading a cute dog story. Instead I was treated to a wonderful, contemplative book of literary fiction. The narrator is a woman who is grieving after the suicide of her best friend and mentor. He was a charming writer, professor, and womanizer. She inherited his huge Great Dane, Apollo, who was also very much in mourning for the friend. Her tiny rent-controlled apartment did not allow dogs, and she needed to
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Reading The Friend was a bit like having a conversation with someone both brilliant and slightly exhausting. As a writer, I found parts of it fascinating—there’s a kind of intellectual intimacy in Nunez’s reflections on grief, writing, and the strange loneliness of the literary life. But there were moments that tipped into the pretentious, and I’ll admit I skipped chunks when the philosophical meandering lost me.
In the end, it’s the bond between narrator and Great Dane that lingers most.
In the end, it’s the bond between narrator and Great Dane that lingers most.
For the concerned-about-dog readers: This is no Where the Red Fern Grows. And while yes, it’s very much about a dog, it’s more about writing and books.
Despite it’s small size, this was a long read. Long because the pace is deliberately slow - this is no plot driven novel where you frantically flip pages to see what comes next. Long because the language is beautiful and clean. Long because it meanders through memory and you find yourself doing the same.
It’s about loss and grief, but also mournin ...more
Despite it’s small size, this was a long read. Long because the pace is deliberately slow - this is no plot driven novel where you frantically flip pages to see what comes next. Long because the language is beautiful and clean. Long because it meanders through memory and you find yourself doing the same.
It’s about loss and grief, but also mournin ...more
Oct 10, 2023
Karen Michele Burns
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
nba-winners
Apr 24, 2019
Andrea
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2020
Krista
marked it as to-read
Sep 06, 2020
Claire Jefferies
marked it as to-read
Dec 18, 2022
Frankie
marked it as to-read
Sep 17, 2023
Tien
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
literature
Aug 04, 2024
Maia
marked it as to-read
