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The novel won the 2018 National Book Award for fiction and was later adapted into a film starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray.
The new film, The Friend, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, is based on the novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez. Her book won a 2018 National Book Award for fiction.
— Episode: After A Friend's Suicide, A Writer Inher...
Episode: After A Friend's Suicide, A Writer Inherits His Gr...
The novel won the 2018 National Book Award for fiction and was later adapted into a film starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray.
The new film, The Friend, starring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, is based on the novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez. Her book won a 2018 National Book Award for fiction.
The novel The Friend is filled with reflections about the line between appropriate and inappropriate relations between students and teachers, what it's like to mourn a friend who left no note to explain his suicide, the bond that can develop between a dog and a person, and how being a writer has changed in the era of social media.
Sigrid Nunez, welcome to Fresh Air. I want to start with a reading from your novel, and this is from very early on, when the main character has recently learned that her friend has committed suicide and is reflecting on, like, why.
The story in The Friend, the narrator is a woman whose mentor from college who was close to her age became a dear friend and he has just committed suicide. She's left grieving and wondering why. And she also inherits his dog.
Sigrid Nunez, speaking with Terry Gross in 2019. Her novel, The Friend, won the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction and has been adapted into a new film.