Except that he had told her he was quitting teaching. She seems to be seeking to understand his choice, for which he had given no clues or signs ahead of time.
We learn that the Friend was a womanizer, had 3 wives, seemed addicted to being desired by younger students. Her narrative gradually reveals more about her own mind and perceptions through these allusions. But ultimately, I think, they are an important part of her intellectual (and emotional) reserves, equipment. And also as a way of distancing oneself from what one is feeling. From a psychological perspective, we might also view them as attempts to understand, to cope, bring on the troops, stave off emotional collapse. But also, quite relevantly, Coetzee’s Disgrace, whose protagonist loses his career and previous privileged life after coming on to a young female student.Īmong the – literary, intellectual – pleasures of the book are these sprinklings of quotations throughout. German authors are favored too: Rilke, Kafka, Wittgenstein, Kleist. Almost as though by association, she brings in pertinent quotes, on death, suicide, writing, male behavior. The narrator recounts some days and encounters in great detail, and reflects on certain themes throughout. Though the characters remain nameless, many names are dropped throughout this meandering text, names and brief quotes of authors, thinkers through the ages.
(I recall The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion’s account of mourning her husband’s death Nunez is infinitely more subtle and wonderful, however.) Through details of her daily life and her reflections (including many literary references and quotations) she implicitly chronicles her grieving – and healing? – process. She often slips into the second person, speaking to the dead friend, who remains nameless, as do all creatures appearing in the book except for Apollo, the friend’s statuesque Great Dane, whom she is persuaded to "adopt" by her deceased friend's most recent spouse, "Wife Three." Divided into 12 "Parts," the book is perhaps the story of a year of coming to terms with this death, but also with other aspects of her life. She recounts her reactions to and life after the suicide of a close "friend" and earlier, short-term lover. The first-person narrator of this winner of the 2018 National Book Award for fiction is a woman perhaps in her 60's, a writer and college teacher of writing. I went back to reread my notes on that thought-provoking book and decided to publish them on my blog, in case any of you are also tempted to dip into Nunez' uniquely appealing prose!
Its female narrator faces and reflects on the ending of a life, as did the narrator of her previous novel, The Friend. Sigrid Nunez has just published a new novel, What Are You Going Through?, which I'm just now reading. Joey Horsley 0 comments Reviews Book reviews
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