Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

11 reviews

brinnavirginia's review

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, and Infidelity

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

oh_renard_lit's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Some pleasant reflections on the litterary trad industry and the role of an author, on the misogyny in the litterary world and of course on mourning and the impact of a suicidal act.
However, I have to admit that appart from the moments talking about those interesting themes, I didn't get invested in the novel. The narrative choice of following the main character's trail of thoughts only make the reader get lost or bored.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

reshusky's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I think the subjects could have been handled better. Felt less like it was focusing on grief, and more on complaining about new authors/students. The bits about the dog and grief were good, the book feels intimate but it also felt like a complaint more than a novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Grief and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

kaitidid's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Not a classic dog book. More about grieving a flawed individual, and about writing itself. If you’re looking for “Marley and Me”, this isn’t it. But what it is is strange and wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, and Trafficking

Minor: Ableism, Toxic relationship, and Dementia

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

charming—i'm pleasantly surprised! i impulse-bought this book even though the synopsis didn't particularly speak to me, and i'm honestly really glad i did. 

- there was lots of talk about books and the act of writing and writing as a form of art (a given since both main characters are writers), which i, as a writer myself, throughly enjoyed, but i can definitely see how that's not a relatable topic for everyone. 

- the book's quite funny at times, and what i found especially entertaining was the upbeat writing style constantly being paired with incredibly grave topics. 

- the characters weren't lovable at all imo (except for the dog, ofc), but rather just plain interesting to observe. 

- the feminist commentary (if you can call it that?) was confusing as hell. like it was sort of feminist but then some lines weren't at all—quite the opposite. idk, it was confusing. 

- the plot... was basically non-existent. no plot, just vibes is all. i guess there was a plot twist, but that one was just really unnecessary. it wasn't impactful at all, because it didn't actually change anything. it wasn't some sort of great revelation that would make the reader feel betrayed, it didn't make the reader feel anything, really. 

another point of criticism i have is that most of the book's depth comes from quoting other authors. the narrator references other authors and works like every other page and i found that most of the lines i underlined/annotated were just said quotes. so i'm wondering a little bit—how much did nunez actually add to the depth and grade of profundity of her own book? 

something i also want to mention, even though a few other reviews have already done so, is that the book doesn't live up to its synopsis... so if you expect the things in the synopsis it's invariably going to be a little underwhelming, if not disappointing. 

but i personally really enjoyed it nevertheless—perhaps even *because* it was so different from what i had expected (since, as i've already said, the synopsis didn't really speak to me anyway.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

hannawilloch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Animal cruelty

garynoplastie's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide, Death, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gun violence

Zoophilia

mefrost's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Trafficking

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal cruelty

s0rry_im_b00ked's review

reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide, Grief, Animal death, and Trafficking

nicolinebl's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Not easy to get in but once I was in, I was enchanted by the prose. Lovely writing, very touching and it felt very real. I have no clue if parts were autobiographical but it sure felt like it might. 
Very philosophical and reflective, not much really "happens" but that did not bother me in the slightest. Just mentioning it for people who might not like that type of book ;) I definitely want to revisit this book in a few years. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Death, and Grief