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As a Friend
“Heroism is a secondary virtue,” Albert Camus noted, “but friendship is primary.” In his gemlike first novel, Forrest Gander writes of friendship, envy, and eros as a harmonic of charged overtones. Set in a rural southern landscape so vivid, it is equal to the indelible characters, As a Friend tells the story of a gifted man, a land surveyor whose impact on those around him provokes intense self-examination and an atmosphere of dangerous eroticism. With poetic insight, Gander explores the nature of attraction, betrayal, and loyalty. What he achieves is brilliant in style and powerfully unsettling.
"Profound, relentlessly beautiful, this exceptional book catches fire again and again. One runs with it as across a bed of coals, unable to look away, unable to stop for an instant even to take a breath. Breathtaking, yes, and unceasingly blazing." --Rikki Ducornet
"As a Friend is a moving elegy. It is also beautiful proof that language has magical potential. In the hands of the lyrical, insightful Forrest Gander, words express unspeakable secrets, they trace hidden connections between friends and lovers, and they make us aware of the expansive power of the imagination." --Joanna Scott
Reviewed at The New York Times Book Review
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Reviewed in Review of Literature, Philosophy & the Humanities
Reviewed at The College Hill Independent
Reviewed at Context: Review of Contemporary Fiction
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Reviewed at The Cavalier Daily
Reviewed at The Providence Journal
Reviewed at The Richmond Times_Dispatch
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Reviewed at Publishers Weekly/Powell's Books