Angie XG answers “With"part 11", is there author's intention...”

Jenn S asked this question about The Friend:

With"part 11", is there author's intention to create ambiguity about whether the friends really did die, or whether the book was just the narrator's "it's a wonderful Life"-type experiment? Since this part was not the end, I had doubt

Angie XG I believe that her friend really did pass away. It was her intention to create an alternate reality in another attempt at accepting his death. She rea…moreI believe that her friend really did pass away. It was her intention to create an alternate reality in another attempt at accepting his death. She really explores mourning and death on so many levels and mostly ties it back to literature and her experience with writing. I think in a sense, she has created a novel out of a diary of her journey in coming to terms with her friends death. I wondered why she mentioned a Dachshund as the dog breed in part 11 and contemplated that this was probably relative to what was more believable of a dog for him to have had over a Great Dane but also helps us, as the reader to understand that we are switching out of reality for a moment. The fact that the building manager, Hector, is names throughout the book, makes me think that the story (other than part 11) is all truth. The ending, where Apollo dies (metaphorically explained), is her finally being able to accept death. Her meditations and her journey through learning and trying to understand mourning have brought her to this final point of welcoming death.(less)

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