Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Amigo, El

I thought this was a book about a dog... Man what the hell 🤦🏻
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

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kell_xavi's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I sought a story of about animal companionship, understanding of a dog’s world alongside a human one. More than anticipated, this is a book about grieving a man: one the narrator has known and loved for many years, but whose bigotry and sexist narcissism are the prevailing qualities that come across in description. The narrator seems to comprehend this, without contemplating it, of the currents of her grief; instead, she turns to Apollo the Great Dane, and grows a new love from the disquiet come over her.

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 found it difficult to approach. On reflection, there's intention to the exploration of both, and to the comparison: what will we tolerate, even accept, in men and dogs, when it is disturbing or immoral, gross or degrading? When is the flaw not worth the reward? While I was not indifferent to this study insightful, and found it insightful, I also desired more of some parts and less of others in The Friend.

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kellymcmanus's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mugsandmanuscripts's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This novel is an astute exploration of grief with a side of shrewd commentary on the art and life of a writer.

The unnamed narrator, a writer, spends months working through her acute grief after her mentor and best friend commits suicide. Her complex and often muddled feelings toward him complicate her journey. The narrator is well-developed and entirely believable; she is unsure of herself, unsure of her feelings, not always completely honest with herself (although, I think, strives to be), and deeply engulfed in her grief (but, with dry humor, also still indignant at her late mentor's incessant womanizing).

As she processes her loss, she also processes her relationship with her mentor and what he meant to her. She also ruminates on the academic field of writing itself as well as many of the difficulties inherent to working in the field. Given that her friend was also her writing professor many years ago, it seems natural that processing her loss also causes these tangental reflections to surface.

The narrator is joined in her grief by the dog of her late mentor, as his wife isn't interested in caring for the heartbroken animal. The relationship complicates her life significantly, since the dog is huge (a great dane), old (and therefore ailing), and not allowed in her apartment. She faces eviction and the well-meaning, though seemingly heavy concern of her friends.

I really loved this one, which surprised me a little bit. I normally like books that are a little more plot-focused, but this one was just so well-done and engaging. I honestly wouldn’t change anything at all.

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