A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.
While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of …
A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.
While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.
Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.
La narradora se dirige a su más querido amigo, suicidado recientemente, reconviniendo y rememorando; luego, a modo de herencia, tiene que hacerse cargo de su perro, un bicharraco enorme que acaba convirtiéndose en el centro de su vida. Si el argumento es poco cautivador, la narración lo mejora poco. Ambiente literario aburrido, de universidad y talleres de escritura; capítulos en los que los párrafos están a modo de sentencias del oráculo; tampoco destaca por la belleza del lenguaje. Sin ser un libro malo, no le encuentro ningún atractivo.
This thin but fascinating book tells the story of a woman writer who's friend recently committed suicide. He was more than a friend. He was her teacher, her mentor and even once, her lover. They had a complicated relationship and it turns out it becomes even more complicated after he commits suicide, as he basically leaves his dog, an adopted from the streets Great Dane, to her.
Needless to say, it is a hard request to fulfill, as she has a tiny rent controlled New York City apartment. So initially she fights the idea but does eventually give in. And then, of course, can't imagine life without the dog. But as the book closes, it is clear that the dog is nearly finished himself.
Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster! In the way it was written, it reminded me a bit of [b:So Many Olympic Exertions|32593083|So Many Olympic Exertions|Anelise Chen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495794124s/32593083.jpg|53171509], as …
This thin but fascinating book tells the story of a woman writer who's friend recently committed suicide. He was more than a friend. He was her teacher, her mentor and even once, her lover. They had a complicated relationship and it turns out it becomes even more complicated after he commits suicide, as he basically leaves his dog, an adopted from the streets Great Dane, to her.
Needless to say, it is a hard request to fulfill, as she has a tiny rent controlled New York City apartment. So initially she fights the idea but does eventually give in. And then, of course, can't imagine life without the dog. But as the book closes, it is clear that the dog is nearly finished himself.
Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster! In the way it was written, it reminded me a bit of [b:So Many Olympic Exertions|32593083|So Many Olympic Exertions|Anelise Chen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495794124s/32593083.jpg|53171509], as there were constant asides about other media, usually having to do with writing (as the narrator is also a writer) but sometimes about dogs. She spends lots of time dissecting the relationship and it is hard to figure out if she thinks it was a positive or negative one, as she is brutally honest about the guys, who, you probably won't be surprised to hear, is a philanderer of the nth degree.
But of course I was mostly drawn to the relationship she had with the dog. The descriptions of how she had to work to make him fit into her life, both figuratively and literally. This is especially poignant later in the book, as it is obvious he is beginning to be beset by the problems of an older dog, and she begins to contemplate that most horrible time that any pet owner usually must face - when it is time to say goodbye one final time. I was blubbering several times towards the end.
But the ending was fantastic!
The biggest drawback were the internal whinings of an author and a writer. They happened just a bit too often and went on for a bit too long. Especially some of the internal dialog between her and her mentor, which bordered on the insufferable at times.
But still, a really nice book and one I read in about 2 days. And easy read, with some great characters and, of course, an amazing dog.
3.5 *’s. Well written, entertaining, about at least some important things – grief and love – but there is a lightness to this novel. The dog is nice and I liked all the advice and quotations about writing and the occasional humorous looks at writing students that were either deprecation of sophomores or Generation Z. But perhaps because it was written as a journal, and since there is no real propulsion so rather than seeing characters' grief in a story, I felt like I was being told about it, I will have to withhold my vote for the National Book Award until I’ve read everything else on the long list.
