I didn’t enjoy this book. I did adore the huge, elderly harlequin Great Dane, Apollo, who the narrator adopts. My heart ached for that dog and the grief and losses he has suffered.

So, what’s this book about? A woman has lost a close friend and mentor to suicide. He has left instructions for her to look after his Great Dane. The narrator (no name — none are given, except for Hector the apartment janitor and Apollo — speaks in the 2nd person pov to her dead friend. She is writing a book about her experiences and feelings since losing him. There are moments when the autor said nuggets of things I could relate to. There are moment of incredibly beautiful prose. But I would normally have a huge emotional reaction to a book about these subjects.

I think my main problem is the author’s writing style. It seems all over the place. I guess it’s a stream of consciousness. But, sometimes, the thoughts we have don’t need to be shared. I got bored. I didn’t find it incredible and genius. I didn’t like how the author referred to so many works of writing, often quoting from them. It felt like she was trying hard to communicate how clever she is. Over and over.

There are no chapters in this book. There are twelve 'parts,' and each of them are made up of paragraphs, or multiple paragraphs, written separately. It's an odd construction, and I can't say I enjoyed it.

I did love Apollo. He is the one good thing I take away from this book. He is beautifully written. Every time the auto was writing about him and the narrator's relationship with him, I was captivated. But those moments were far too few, in my opinion.

I know that many people loved this book. The author is considered to be one of great talent. But I think talent is relative. Personally, I like books that make me feel something, in some way connected to the author, and not books that make me think only about the author and her talent.

Lovers of literary fiction. People who don't crave action and events in a novel. People who appreciate books for the author's ability, and not for the story.

Apollo.

Most of it. The author's writing style, mainly. I didn't like the lack of chapters.

Read something I know I will enjoy.

Sad. Frustrated. Bored at times.

Sigrid Nunez. Literary fiction writer.

The only reason I would recommend this is for the dog, Apollo. But, actually, I'm not sure it's worth the rest of the book just for the parts about him.

It's not as good as other reviews might lead you to believe.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Friend: A Novel   from Amazon.Com!

Created Feb 08, 2024 at 5:26am • Submit your own review...