The Friend

“Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say l'Il take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again.”

Loved this. Whilst always addressed to a dear friend after their passing, we are never quite sure whether the narrator is writing a letter, memoir, or a series of journal entries. With an air of avoidance, loneliness, and musing, Sigrid Nunez paints a graceful picture of grief and loss. The narrator, unnamed, portraits her friend as a man, a writer, a teacher, a lover, and finally as his own Great Dane, Apollo, who tethers her to the earth amidst philosophical enquiry into themes of suicide, writing, and companionship. Elegant in its simplicity.