Reviews

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

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tinalee08's review

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emotional funny hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

greenrose's review

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

This book was not my vibe. It was very stream on consciousness, which is okay in my opinion. However, the stream of consciousness did not relate to grief (at least not overtly if at all imo). I got half way through and the dog was discussed maybe twice in depth. I am frustrated that the marketing for this book is about “human-canine devotion” but the relationship was hardly explored and discussed. If it were marketed differently and I knew I was going to be getting critiques of the literary/writing world maybe I would have different thoughts. I thought there was more opportunity to mediate on suffering as opposed to grief (maybe those are the same in this context). I think if my expectations of the novel were different I could have enjoyed it more.

charlie_cheese's review

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DNF - I did not really understand what this story was trying to say to me

elfs29's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Nunez has curated an extremely complex vision of grief, of the way life exists when you're experiencing it and the way the past exists when you consider it in the wake of loss. The vision of a man the narrator may or may not have been in love with, who may or may not have been a good person, is less important in the narrative than the experience of losing him, and her relationship with Apollo instead takes focus - how can she let herself love again when she knows she must lose again? How can she console herself, or know if she is lonely? The consistent quotations and literary references create the image of a woman who doesn't have answers, who has never had answers, and as an aspiring writer, her questions of the ethics and purposes of writing have unsettled me. Every part of this book has made me wonder about something (is that the point of writing?).

Now watching him sleep, I feel a surge of contentment. There follows another, deeper feeling, singular and mysterious, yet at the same time perfectly familiar. I don't know why it takes me a full minute to name it.

cyrilrbt's review

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The author should have spent more time on the storytelling aspect and way less on the making sure you know she is very smart and knows a lot about literature. It's like watching a movie made for filmmakers, there's no point.

alexisgarcia's review

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reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this was a very interesting book, it’s definitely my favorite from nunez so far! her writing reminds me of the ramblings of an older woman.

Content Warnings

darcys01's review against another edition

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4.0

Hmmm. Not the usual novel. An interesting listen. Will be thinking about this one. I think this might be easier to follow in book form. There were many spots I wanted to highlight.