The Friend
by Sigrid Nunez
“Consider rereading, how risky it is, especially when the book is one that you loved. Always the chance that it won't hold up, that you might, for whatever reason, not love it as much. When this happens, and to me it happens all the time (and more and more as I get older), the effect is so disheartening that I now open old favorites warily.” ― Sigrid Nunez, The Friend
A woman agrees to take care of the unwanted puppy that her longtime closest friend and mentor has left behind after passing away unexpectedly. Her own struggle with loss is made more difficult by the dog's quiet suffering—a large Great Dane frightened by the mysterious disappearance of its owner—and the prospect of eviction she is facing because pets are not allowed in her apartment complex.
The woman will not be separated from the dog, except for limited periods of time, which worries others who fear that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking or worse. She is increasingly preoccupied with the dog's care and seems to be on the verge of disintegrating due to her isolation from the outside world and her determination to understand the dog's heart and intellect. While difficulties abound for both her and the dog, each of them will experience rich and unexpected benefits.
While the description of the novel highlights the events, it does not tell the whole story. The most important aspect for me was the literary sensibility of the narrator - a narrator who is a writer. This was evidenced both by multiple literary references that provided a deeper meaning for the story and observations on the importance of reading. More significantly, this had special meaning for me based on my own shared experience of reading the texts that she referenced. Her observations about writing based on reading Flannery O'Connor, Nabokov, and other authors were astute and beautifully blended into the narrative. The result of these references added power to the narrative and left this reader ready to reread the novel.
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