"[1] The novel outlines how the couple courted, and Eric Nguyen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune stated that the novel portrays characters as "complex beings".
[5] Immanuel Kim, intending to translate a North Korean novel, looked through thousands of works before choosing Friend.
[4] E. Tammy Kim wrote that the work hints at aspects considered embarrassing to the North Korean state despite the "at times, didactic and propagandistic" style.
[3] Barbara Hoffert, Terry Hong, Lawrence Olszewski of the Library Journal selected the translation of Friend as en entry in "Best World Literature of 2020", citing how it has "a rare glimpse into everyday life" in North Korea.
[7] The book was classified as seditious by South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, which banned military personnel from reading it.