gifted by the publisher

Growing up in Miami has shaped Izzy Reyes into someone who dreams of money, power, and respect. After his business impersonating Pitbull failed, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to transform into a modern-day Tony Montana, as seen in Scarface.

FRIEND is an off-beat "anti-immigrant" story that follows a Cuban American's fever dream and resists the tropes of trauma porn or generational divide while examining Izzy's inheritance via inventive storytelling. There's so much going on in FRIEND, with frequent references to Putbull & Scarface (which I was quite lost) and narratives from a captive orca.

I'm not sure if I fully got everything happening in the book, but the unique storytelling kept me engaged, and the ending is especially poignant. FRIEND is a little hard to categorize, but if THE BEE STING (Paul Murray) and REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES (Shelby Van Pelt) have a tragicomic baby, that would be FRIEND.