Ipicked up a copy of “Loved One” based solely on the fact that its first-time author, Aisha Muharrar, was involved in three television comedies that made me laugh: “Hacks,””Parks and Recreation” and “The Good Place.”

The opening scene of “Loved One” could be a set piece on any of those shows, as we jump inside the head of our narrator, 30-year-old Julia, who is delivering the eulogy at a friend’s funeral, a popular indie musician at the time of his death. She thinks in pop culture tropes. “Gabe and I were actual friends… We weren’t the kind of friends who were never really friends. The kind of friends you see in a romantic comedy where there are two incredibly attractive people who are deeply emotionally invested in each other, and we’re supposed to believe they have never once considered

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