As a Friend, New Directions
“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.
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Reviewed at The New York Times Book Review
Reviewed at Isola di Rifiuti by John Latta
Reviewed in Review of Literature, Philosophy & the Humanities
Reviewed in Harvard Review
Reviewed in Poetry Magazine
Reviewed at The College Hill Independent
Reviewed at The American Book Review
Reviewed at Brown Alumni Monthly
Reviewed at The Colorado Review
Reviewed at Context: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Reviewed by Kevin Killian for Amazon
Reviewed at The Dominion
Reviewed at The Cavalier Daily
Reviewed at The Providence Journal
Reviewed at The Hampden-Sydney Review
Reviewed at So Many Books
Reviewed at Corridor Buzz
Reviewed at The Richmond Times Dispatch
Reviewed at Emerging Writers Network
Reviewed at Publishers Weekly/Powell's Books
Reviewed in The Best of Ralph: Hits from the First Half of 2009
To read reviews of the French, German, Bulgarian or Spanish editions, see "Forrest Gander in Translation"
--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