The Friend
Ratings42
Average rating3.9
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.
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Once in a while you read the right book at the right time. This book was it for me. A woman who is a writer is mourning the suicide of her closest friend, another writer. The dead man's third wife asks the narrator to take her husband's dog, a Great Dane that she never wanted and doesn't connect with. The dog also appears to be grieving. The woman and the dog, Apollo, make their way together in her tiny apartment in a building that doesn't allow pets.
This is not a sentimental story about how dogs heal our griefs with their love. For one thing, Great Danes have a short lifespan of only 5-7 years, and Apollo is already at least 5 years old. We know more death and grief are in store for the narrator. Also, Apollo is feeling the grief of his human's loss too. He needs quite a lot of care himself.
It IS a quiet story about coping with the shock and loss of suicide. It's also about writers and whether writing is an honorable vocation. It's very readable, and I loved it.
I liked it, but there's a reason why novels about writers are problematic. It's a fine character study, but there isn't enough story here to back it up.
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. From beginning to end it kept me engaged in the story and that's because of the way it's presented. Through what seemed to be letters written by the protagonist is that we get to know the story. This makes it especially interesting because we not only get to read about the dog, but about the thoughts and vague ideas that go through the mind of our protagonist.
It's a good story about mourning and bereavement. It depicts the impact the loss of someone close has not only on us humans, but on dogs as well. Also, it walks us through the connection a person can create with a pet and the emotion and sentiment that goes into it.
I've always been a sucker for dogs, so the premise had me drooling over it, and I believe it delivered, but maybe not as greatly as I had expected.
Really good book that I would recommend to many people, just not life changing or anything like that.
