CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS

I got on the Sally Rooney train after reading Normal People, and I've read every single book she's put out since then. I adore her stream of consciousness style of writing and I find all her stories to be such wonderful character studies. If there's anything this woman can do, it's write a character that is so, so, annoying but tragically relatable. Her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, perfectly encapsulates that feeling. The story follows two women in their twenties who get involved with an older 'cool' married couple, illustrating the age old adage of "No, you don't get it, they're not right for each other and we are!!" It's a tired trope, but people fall for it all the time in real life so it makes sense. In this book, however, it's more interesting because you have the main characters' thoughts at all times, so it's easy to empathize and, as the reader, you do. It's a great story, honestly. It really captures the chaos and bad decision making that is your twenties, in a way the feels interesting and sad and tragic and cool- all the things I thought I was in my twenties lol I think the main reason you should read it though is because Sally Rooney always has a lot of really intelligent and interesting things to say and this book is full of those things. Read it!

A novel highlighting the reality that relationships are often much more complicated than we can prepare ourselves for. Sally Rooney has a poetic writing style that creates a vivid experience and, at the same time, allows for a very natural read. It does start out a bit slow and very ambiguous; however, once I got through the first three or so chapters, I could not put it down. I kept with it, and I am glad I did! Although it is written from the main character Frances' singular perspective, you become introduced to the other main characters from the beginning. They become more and more defined and, the way the story progresses adds suspense and realistic layers that exist in all relationships. I did become slightly apprehensive due to some of the more descriptive explicit content. With that said, it was not overly egregious and did not take away from the overall enjoyment of the novel. Sally Rooney did a fantastic job of capturing the confusion, heartache, and complicated reality of falling in and defining love.

Frances is 21 years old, works at a job she is not at all engaged with and almost would seem to prefer to not have, goes to college, and performs her spoken word poetry with her best friend/ex-girlfriend Bobbi at night. The latter has gotten enough attention to draw into their orbit Melissa, a 30something writer and photographer who wants to profile them, and her husband Nick, a working actor who has found only minor success. While Melissa and Bobbi hit it off, Frances and Nick develop a connection of their own and it’s not too long before they wind up in bed together. This doesn’t feel like a spoiler, as it is very obvious that it’s going to end up there. This obviously has reverberations for Frances’s relationships with both Bobbi and Melissa. Sally Rooney is one of those authors that has a devoted following, so I was really excited to start reading her work with this, her debut novel. But if I’m being honest, I didn’t really understand the fuss. This is a character book, which I’m inclined to like, but without a character I found compelling. Frances is a frustrating protagonist. Not because she’s aimless or sleeps with someone else’s husband or is trying to figure out who she is, but because she’s just not very interesting while she’s doing all of that. I didn’t find her unlikeable, I just found her boring. I found myself wondering why and even if I was supposed to care about her or her connections with Nick, Bobbi, and Melissa. I had a hard time understanding how a person seemingly so empty and detached could write poetry that was engaging enough to get anyone’s attention. What kept my interest was the quality of the prose. Rooney’s writing is subtle, and she has a real knack for dialogue and descriptions. Her words are clearly deliberately chosen but she never slides into flowery language. Her use of language alone makes me want to read her other books, but I hope they’re better than this one.

Amo Sally Rooney. Amo il suo modo di scrivere e la sua capacità di rendere avvicenti storie "normali". Amo leggerla in lingua originale, perchè dà realtà ai personaggi. Consiglio fortissimamente di leggere i suoi romanzi.

I bought this and the author's other novel, Normal People, at the same time due to the media interested generated by the TV programme recently produced of the latter. I was a bit shocked that I was seeing quite a lot of negative reviews on Amazon for the novels, as they don't tend to make TV programmes from bad novels. Anyway I thought I'd have to decide for myself given this tantalising paradox, and was therefore equally shocked to discover how excellent they are, and delighted that I wasn't put off. Some of the other reviews commented on how unconventionally written they were, which I understand in a small way, but that's what I loved about them both. And it wasn't so unconventional as to make them incomprehensible or inaccessible; they were both very fresh and I read them both over the period of a few days (the only very slight confusion arising from a character called Marianne appearing in both of them!) Conversation with Friends specifically definitely felt like a very accurate and relatable commentary on modern relationships, and was completely un-put-downable (the only time I did was to pick up Normal People.) The characters and scenarios were very real. I hope others aren't put off by some of the crazy reviews on here! Definitely give it a read, one of the best books I have read for a long time.

Good shape and sent very fast and came very fast as well.

I only picked this up because I really enjoyed "Normal People". I liked the story, I thought it was good. The author clearly writes stories that feel reflective of the relationships and lives of typical individuals. This book was not as raw as the authors other book, but it was still enjoyable. The story feels relatable, in the sense that you may have a friend who has been through something similar.

What a great book this is. I read some chapters and listened to others on Audible. I had trouble putting it down (or removing the AirPods). The book is so well written that I really felt I was in Frances’ head a lot of the time and felt her feelings as she struggled her way through the complexities of her relationships. Highly recommended. I’ve never given a book 5 stars, I’m reserving that for the last book I ever read (and re-read in perpetuity). This one was close! My best read of 2017, albeit concluded on 1 January 2018.