The Friend
Winner of the National Book Award - now a major motion picture starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray
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3.7 • 38 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NAOMI WATTS AND BILL MURRAY
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST 100 BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
'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
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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.
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'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 perfect novel . . . It's my favorite kind of masterpiece - one you can put into anyone's hand' EMMA STRAUB
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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the riveting new novel from Nunez (Salvation City), the unnamed narrator thinks in the second person, addressing an unnamed old friend, a man, who has recently and unexpectedly committed suicide. The two first met decades earlier, while she was his student, the same semester in fact, when a fellow student became "Wife One" of three. While wives and lovers have come and gone, the narrator has remained a constant, friendly intimate of the deceased, a platonic yet intense and complex relationship. Mourning, she begins writing a cathartic elegy that becomes a larger meditation on writing, loss, and various forms of love. Early in the book, Wife Three calls to ask if the narrator will take responsibility for a large Great Dane named Apollo, whom the man had found abandoned in Central Park. Despite the unexpectedness of the request, the narrator takes the dog home, and over the course of the rest of the novel, her love for Apollo both consumes and heals her. This elegant novel explores both rich memories and day-to-day mundanity, reflecting the way that, especially in grief, the past is often more vibrant than the present.
Customer Reviews
You’ve got a friend in me
Author
American. Born in NYC to German mother and Chinese-Panamanian father: hence the name. MFA from Columbia, worked at New York Review of Books for awhile, then taught writing at various schools and colleges. This, her seventh novel, won the National Book Award.
Plot
Unmarried female College writing teacher loses her long term male mentor to suicide. Said mentor is a womaniser who reckons the driving force in English faculties is lust. Beats grammar, I suppose. He’s had three wives and numerous liaisons with young undergraduate and graduate students, not with the narrator though, except for that one time, and that was a long ago which doesn’t really count, right? Their relationship is an intellectual one, okay, even if the wives are sceptical.
Before he croaked, the Bukowski wannabe adopted a pedigree Great Dane he happened to find in the park when he was out walking, as you would. Wife number 3 isn’t happy. She’s not a dog person, definitely not a Great Dane person. She butters up the narrator post-memorial service and our gal takes over care, despite the fact that she’s a cat person and lives in a small rent controlled apartment she really likes where dogs aren’t allowed. Reflections on love, friendship, loss, grief, and dog ownership follow.
Prose
First person narrative, interior monologues aplenty. Crisp, spare prose means they never drag, hardly ever anyway. Clearly, there’s an autobiographical element, although I’m not sure whether Ms Nunez is actually a born again dog lover IRL.
Characters
Deft portraits of the narrator and the dead guy that come together gradually and pleasingly. As for the dog...
Bottom line
A class act, but probably not one for fans of the action/thriller genre. I understand why it won the National Book Award.
The Friend
Very moving. Thought provoking.
Such a great book
For writers and readers who love reading about writing.