Reviews

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

coffeebean86's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

anna6carnegie's review

4.0

A book about dogs, this will be light hearted, I thought. And a great dane - even better!! Well, how I was wrong. The blurb does say how the dog comes to our narrator because of her friends death, but I wasn't expecting this to essentially be a novel about grief, friendship and trauma manifestations. It was beautiful and equally sometimes disturbing, I often wondered where it was going but never once wanted to stop reading, which was an odd feeling. The last two chapters confused me, if anyone felt the same plz tell me! Lighthearted it was not, but wonderfully and weirdly profound it was.
It left me ruminating for a long while and to me, a good book is one that leaves you thinking. The dog was the best glue to hold it all together, needing healing and love just as much as any other human. I will continue to search for novels with dogs in, and maybe not find one as sad, although lovely, as this <3

kpdoessomereading's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

phattwizat's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Found it self indulgent. 

ammcnamara's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.5

Less a novel and more a philosophical meditation on the human-animal bond and the life of a writer. I found the writing about animals to be very realistic and vivid

fevvers's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

rodo_guzman's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

haddas's review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

carol_c26's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I don't think I really care for books written in the second person. I didn't care for the characters except for the pup and just felt everyone to be irritating. 

d97's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

For a book about a woman losing her best friend to suicide and taking in the dog, she writes more about other books and authors than the loss of the man and the dog. Boring.