The Friend: A Novel
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The Friend: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Sigrid Nunez (Author), Hillary Huber (Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 6,517 ratings
Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A beautiful book … a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love."—Wall Street Journal

"A penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory...Nunez has a wry, withering wit."—NPR

"Dry, allusive and charming…the comedy here writes itself.” The New York Times

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.

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  1. Listening Length
    5 hours and 59 minutes
  2. Author
    Sigrid Nunez
  3. Narrator
    Hillary Huber
  4. Audible release date
    February 6, 2018
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0747WHW9T
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 5 hours and 59 minutes
Author Sigrid Nunez
Narrator Hillary Huber
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date February 06, 2018
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0747WHW9T
Best Sellers Rank #5,366 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#4 in Animal Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#43 in Animal Fiction (Books)
#265 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
6,517 global ratings
Calming, familiar, genius!
5 Stars
Calming, familiar, genius!
Loved this book. Calmly takes us through a story that looks familiar, but it’s not. The characters, the friend/s…fictionalizing fiction in a totally unique manner! Loved it.
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Top reviews from the United States

R. Robertson
5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply introspective narrative novel
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
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I’m no literary critic, but I do love to read. This book presents detailed and introspective narration on life, love, death, and the challenges of writing and teaching writing. I found it engaging, entertaining, and informative. I’m going to read it again, to pick up some of the subtleties I no doubt missed the first time through.
One person found this helpful
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Girolamo
4.0 out of 5 stars Truly great writing - IF you can read it.
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2018
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I'm not given to writing reviews, but I have to make an exception this time. As is often the case, there's good news and bad.

First, the bad. The publishers deserve the firing squad, except since they DID have the good sense to publish the book, they get one star (and the author loses one). This is not a young adult book or one destined to be a best-seller, it's a book for lovers of fiction and the art and craft of writing it. So why, since most of its readers will be individuals wearing glasses, publish it in a font so small and with contrast so weak that some sort of magnification may well prove necessary? They'll have a chance, when preparing the paperback edition, to do better, and I'm writing this solely to encourage them to do that: MAKE IT READABLE.

Second, the good. This is an important book. The author has created something original and, by its end, revelatory of how fiction comes to be - indeed, of what fiction IS. The prose style is dry, never poetic. (It's not 'academic' dry, it's 'journalistic' dry.) The plot is slight, and the digressions are many. But it's not - not ever - dull; there's not a wasted word in it. The pace is slow, but it's too interesting to put down. 3/4 of the way through, the author takes the reader on a detour that I was pretty sure was going to turn out to have been a bad idea. It wasn't; she knew exactly what she was doing. It turns out she's a fisherman (fisherperson?) who has been quietly letting out her nets all along, and when she hauls them in, her catch is bountiful. I'm impressed enough with "The Friend" that I'm changing the syllabus for a seminar I'll teach next fall, replacing a tried and true novel with this one, because it's such fine work. Brava, Signora Nunez!

Five stars for the author - minus one for the publisher. PLEASE do better with the next edition; this is an important book!
354 people found this helpful
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Bonnie Brody
5.0 out of 5 stars "What we lose and what we mourn, - isn't this that makes us who, deep down, we truly are."
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019
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Whatever genre you consider this book to be - novel, memoir, meditation - you are right. Ms. Nunez has created a beautiful book that explores love and the relationships between friends, humans and animals, along with the great grief we experience when faced with the loss of a loved one. She also examines the teaching of writing, particularly that of her deceased mentor who has recently taken his own life.

Ms. Nunez has written many books and her biography of Susan Sontag is stellar. In my opinion, however, this is her strongest and most personal work despite the whole book progressing with hardly a human's name mentioned. The reader is privy to the name of Appollo, the dog left in Ms. Nunez's care after her friend commits suicide. Appollo is a Great Dane, majestic and always a reminder of the author's friend and mentor, What does it mean to have a relationship with an animal, especially a dog, that is notably needy of human care and affection. Is it usual to anthropomorphize one's relationship with an animal, to see oneself as parent or family member? Ms. Nunez sees and feels Appollo as part of her life and through him, comes to find and explore a deep and satisfying connection to her dead friend.

The teaching of writing has changed much since the time Ms. Nunez's mentor was a professor. He was a lady's man, attractive and charismatic, boldly having affair after affair with his students and colleagues. With the #me too movement, none of this would be possible yet, in Ms. Nunez's words, it enriched her friend's world and that of the students who felt lucky enough to be chosen by him. Even Ms. Nunez, in her own way, has been in love with him while loving him Platonically as well.

Read this book. If it's in your TBR stack, move it to the top. If you don't have it, buy it now. It is one of a kind - like a snowflake or a heart beat.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Pernille
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
Reviewed in Spain on October 15, 2023
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Absolutely brilliant! Fabulously written and wonderful content.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant tale of love and loss
Reviewed in India on October 1, 2023
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Enchanting story of friendship through time. I am enscorcelled. I love reading Sigrid Nunez. Read 3 of her novels so far. And this one certainly has made the deepest mark.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived on time and in perfect condition
Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2019
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thank you!
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Meike Reuter
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you
Reviewed in Germany on January 22, 2020
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Although I had a good cry at the end (which was surely written for the benefit of dog lovers) it was a pleasure to get lost in the flow of thoughts,witticisms and little scenes of everday life and philosophic approach mingled together.
Therefore,thank you!
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mario puoti
5.0 out of 5 stars The friend quando le solitudini si incontrano
Reviewed in Italy on August 9, 2019
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Piacevolissima lettura in originale. Ottima scrittura. Un viaggio nell ambiguità dei rapporti di amicizia uomo donna senza sesso .Un percorso sul senso dello scrivere. Lo sconvolgimento della condizione dell” essere umano nella sua solitudine nell incontro col mondo animale.
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