The Friend cover art

The Friend

A Novel

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The Friend

Written by: Sigrid Nunez
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
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About this listen

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

SHORTLISTED 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 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.

©2017 Sigrid Nunez (P)2017 Penguin Audio
Animals Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Dogs Heartfelt Grief
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What the critics say

“The contemplation of writing and the loss of integrity in our literary life form the heart of the novel...Nunez’s prose itself comforts us. Her confident and direct style uplifts—the music in her sentences, her deep and varied intelligence. She addresses important ideas unpretentiously and offers wisdom for any aspiring writer who, as the narrator fears, may never know this dear, intelligent friend—or this world that is dying. But is it dying? Perhaps. But with The Friend, Nunez provides evidence that, for now, it survives.”—The New York Times Book Review

"Charming... the comedy here writes itself... the novel's tone in general, however, is mournful and resonant... The snap of her sentences sometimes puts me in mind of Rachel Cusk."—The New York Times

“In crystalline prose, Nunez creates an impressively controlled portrait of the ‘exhaustion of mourning.’”—The New Yorker

What listeners say about The Friend

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not so great!

I was expecting a story of love between the writer and a dog she got saddled with
I guess this is the story, but she doesn't give the dog much of a personality. Kind if boring.

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Mixed feelings

Ultimately, the book was worth the read. The end sort-of justifies the content. But at first, it feels heavy and slow and reads like a school paper with all those references to who wrote or said what. In some places, I found myself wondering why I was being subjected to all the discombobulated meandering talk. Overall though, the dog fixation is what got me plus the end is really cool.

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Award winning - maybe good for academic discourse

There were parts that were compelling. Overall the best part was the dog - the most believable of the book's characters.

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1 person found this helpful