The Friend

Reviews / Votes

A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year * Financial Times * A beautiful book . . . crammed with a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love * Wall Street Journal * Very very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. In short, absolutely delightful. * Irish Times * Delicious . . . An intensely pleasurable read because it is so accessible, capacious and clever * Sunday Times * A pitch-perfect novel . . . Wry and moving, The Friend is a love story, a mania story and a recovery story * Vanity Fair * Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs * Graham Norton * A sneaky gut punch of a novel . . . a consummate example of the human-animal tale * Harper's Magazine * The book is an intimate, beautiful thing, deceptively slight at around 200 pages, but humming with insight . . . [an] artfully discursive meditation on friendship, love, death, solitude, canine companionship and the life of an aging writer in New York .. peppered with wry observations * The Economist * I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me * The View * A poignant reflection on loss and companionship * Marie Claire * Often as funny as it is thoughtful, The Friend is an elegant meditation on grief, friendship, healing, and the bonds between humans and dogs * Buzzfeed * An elegant and darkly humorous meditation on grief and companionship, it's a great read - whether or not you're obsessed with canines * Shondaland.com * Charming . . . the comedy here writes itself . . . The snap of her sentences sometimes puts me in mind of Rachel Cusk * New York Times * The contemplation of writing and the loss of integrity in our literary life form the heart of the novel . . . Nunez's prose itself comforts us. Her confident and direct style uplifts - the music in her sentences, her deep and varied intelligence. She addresses important ideas unpretentiously and offers wisdom for any aspiring writer who, as the narrator fears, may never know this dear, intelligent friend - or this world that is dying. But is it dying? Perhaps. But with The Friend, Nunez provides evidence that, for now, it survives * New York Times Book Review * In crystalline prose, Nunez creates an impressively controlled portrait of the 'exhaustion of mourning' * New Yorker * Astonishingly fresh and tinged with sadness . . . a highly entertaining, uplifting book exploring the magical bond between humans and canines. A must-read for dog-lovers * The Lady * She has a wry compassion, and an eye for the kind of detail only grown-ups can catch. The books feel lived-in rather than hard-earned, the voice is smart and kind -- Anne Enright * The Times * After suffering the loss of an old friend and adopting his Great Dane, the book's heroine muses on death, friendship, and the gifts and burdens of a literary life. Out of these fragments a philosophy of grief springs like a rabbit out of a hat; Nunez is a magician -- Ada Calhoun, author of ALSO A POET: FRANK O'HARA, MY FATHER, AND ME The Friend is a perfect novel about the size of grief and love, and like the dog at the book's center, the book takes up more space than you expect. It's my favorite kind of masterpiece - one you can put into anyone's hand -- Emma Straub, author of THIS TIME TOMORROW