Conversations with Friends

I really don\’t understand the excitement and buzz surrounding this book. Allowing for the cultural differences of my American heritage vs the Irish setting of the novel, the protagonists still seem like entitled, self-important, lazy kids with low morals. Their high opinions of themselves and judgemental attitudes about everyone elses homes, intellect and opinion made my interest in them tenuous at best. I tried to care that the main characters affair with a married man made her already low self esteem plunge, but frankly I just didn\’t care. Typical millennial novel- well written but of no real substance

I\’ve been wanting to read more literary fiction by my peers, and my curiosity was piqued when I heard an interview with Sally Rooney while driving around in my home state of Massachusetts, and then I met her classmate later in Dublin, who gave me \”Mr. Salary\”, which was sharp and excellent. (Almost as perfect as short stories can get. WOW.) So I felt driven to buy her novel. I don\’t always have staying power with books, but I read this one from cover to cover in a few days. I didn\’t agree with Frances\’ choice in the end, and I loved the fact that I felt invested enough to care. I wanted to go with her through to \”The End\”. The dialogue was wonderful, and I ate up the book — not just because of the chemistry generated between the characters, but because on a mechanical level I wanted to study \”how the author did what she did\” — so many scenes were pitched just right, compelling, and exquisite. The storyline stays wonderfully tight and on-point, and follows a logical sequence, with each emotional development building on the last. At about 2/3rds of the way through, the protagonist reaches an acute level of misery, and I admittedly found it a bit harder to read. It was hard on an emotional level (which is great — no reason the author shouldn\’t put us through that, if it\’s the truth!), but my own tiniest criticism is that I think the storytelling could have dialed back on the statements of misery. The first 2/3rds is so beautifully stark that the way Frances\’ breakdown is told feels like a shift in diction. (But then again, weren\’t we all agonized and angsty in our early 20\’s? In that sense, Sally hit the right note, one that most of us shy/squirm away from!!) Brilliant book, and I felt viscerally and sensually within the narrative the entire time (deeply cringing when I read Melissa\’s long email, as if it was directed at me… or watching Frances wearing the sports coat, looking like a \”candle\”… etc. etc.) I will read it / flip through it again just to study it more. Loved how it was both physical and highly cerebral, and adored the intimate and frank look at women\’s sexuality and health as well. Incredible accomplishment, and I am excited to see what she writes next!!

The friends may have conversations, but most often they dont talk. Rather it is misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and apologies for three hundred pages with episodes of honesty, brief pleasures, many passages that reach the poetic, and some insights. Living with Frances, I feel, would be like being a trucker contracted to haul unstable nitroglycerin over mountains on rough roads. Its an experience to be survived with compensating moments. At the end when I closed the book, I could only see a journey of washouts and potholes for Frances and her friends stretching toward the horizon. I wasnt unhappy to get out of the truck, but not regretful that I took the trip.

I heard great things about this author, and after reading the reviews on this book I purchased it & was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. There wasn\’t one character that was likable, and there wasn\’t really any overall character development in general. I found myself getting irritated with the protagonist, rather than sympathizing with her. I have read lots of different types of novels and I almost always am able to connect with the protagonist on some level, and I was disappointed that I wasn\’t able to with this novel. The story was also a little dry- it took me longer than normal to read this.

My low rating has to do with the reviews which inaccurately compared this to James Joyce. If I\’d known it was more like Bridget Jones\’ Diary, and gone to it with that expectation, I would\’ve been fine with it. So it\’s perhaps not fair to judge it by a reviewer\’s inaccuracy.

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