The Friend

Press Reviews

• New York Times Book Review

  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

  Charming . . . the comedy here writes itself . . . The snap of her sentences sometimes puts me in mind of Rachel Cusk

• New Yorker

  In crystalline prose, Nunez creates an impressively controlled portrait of the 'exhaustion of mourning'

• Wall Street Journal

  A beautiful book . . . crammed with a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love

• The Economist

  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

• Marie Claire

  A poignant reflection on loss and companionship

• Shondaland.com

  An elegant and darkly humorous meditation on grief and companionship, it's a great read - whether or not you're obsessed with canines

• Harper's Magazine

  A sneaky gut punch of a novel . . . a consummate example of the human-animal tale

• Buzzfeed

  Often as funny as it is thoughtful, The Friend is an elegant meditation on grief, friendship, healing, and the bonds between humans and dogs

• Sunday Times

  Delicious . . . An intensely pleasurable read because it is so accessible, capacious and clever

• Irish Times

  Very very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. In short, absolutely delightful.

• Financial Times

  A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year

• Vanity Fair

  A pitch-perfect novel . . . Wry and moving, The Friend is a love story, a mania story and a recovery story

• Rebecca Wallersteiner

  The Lady

  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

• Whoopi Goldberg

  The View

  I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me

• Graham Norton

  Loved this. A funny, moving examination of love, grief, and the uniqueness of dogs

• Anne Enright

  The Times

  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

• Ada Calhoun, author of ALSO A POET: FRANK O'HARA, MY FATHER, AND ME

  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

• Emma Straub, author of THIS TIME TOMORROW

  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