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A review by hstcrow
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
2.0
TW: suicide
This book really didn’t do it for me. Reading the synopsis beforehand was quite misleading - I went into this book expecting grief, but also expecting A LOT more of a lovely relationship of a woman and a dog (her dog). Although we do get brief glimpses into the narrator’s relationship with Apollo, that isn’t what this book is about. I found the meandering literature name drops a bit tedious after a while, and the relays of other suicides throughout history very grim. I get it - the main character has lost her friend to suicide and I completely understand that suicide will play a strong part in this novel; however, it got to the point where it was just downright depressing. I felt misled by all the descriptions of what the book was going to be about, and it wasn’t an enjoyable story. The prose and writing style is great, but the story itself lacks interest and is too upsetting.
This book really didn’t do it for me. Reading the synopsis beforehand was quite misleading - I went into this book expecting grief, but also expecting A LOT more of a lovely relationship of a woman and a dog (her dog). Although we do get brief glimpses into the narrator’s relationship with Apollo, that isn’t what this book is about. I found the meandering literature name drops a bit tedious after a while, and the relays of other suicides throughout history very grim. I get it - the main character has lost her friend to suicide and I completely understand that suicide will play a strong part in this novel; however, it got to the point where it was just downright depressing. I felt misled by all the descriptions of what the book was going to be about, and it wasn’t an enjoyable story. The prose and writing style is great, but the story itself lacks interest and is too upsetting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide