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meremeth's review
I got to the sex trafficking part and gave up.
I really enjoyed the writing style, but the content of the book feels indulgent and unnecessarily heavy at times
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Suicide, Trafficking, and Rape
kell_xavi's review
3.5
I enjoyed many of the literary connections Nunez and the narrator, herself a writer and professor, make. I don’t tend to pick up writing about writing, but the perspective of an older woman, well-read and used to both capturing her feelings and parsing them through writing (hers, other authors’), made sense here as an opening. Grief, love, pets, ownership, devotion, attention, death: these are all subjects that are heavily present in literature and in our lives. This short novel is both a simple one as it repeats, mirrors them, and one that stirs and enriches the reader. The woman and the dog both dedicated to another, the woman and man both in authority, the reflection of the woman on each role and companion also a flicker of light on herself. At the same time, this continues to be a story of a friendship between human and dog, one that epitomizes the Rilke quote about love being two solitudes that greet each other.
At the close of this novel, I wanted it to continue. There were many parts, however, that I didn’t enjoy. There’s a grossness to both men and animals, there’s a sustained apology for it, that I find it difficult to approach. It was more that I wanted The Friend to be different, more of some parts and less of others.
Moderate: Trafficking and Suicide
ahorowitz25's review
1.0
Gross.
Is it well written in a profoundly literary (read: pretentious and grating) style? Yes. But I just couldn’t get past how nauseous the male prof made me. I shouldn’t have bothered finishing it.
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Infidelity
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death
kaitidid's review
- 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
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
morganthecarrot's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, and Trafficking
hannawilloch's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Animal cruelty
friendofhayley's review
Moderate: Trafficking
apeck's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, and Death
Minor: Rape, Trafficking, and Infidelity
garynoplastie's review against another edition
4.0
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
Zoophiliasophie_paterson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Trafficking
Moderate: Suicide