Conversations with Friends

Good god, Frances has to be one of the least likeable main characters I've come across in quite some time. And the ending maddened me.

And yet, Sally Rooney remains Sally Rooney. I adore this woman's writing so much that I happily sat through an eight and a half hour audiobook despite getting more and more annoyed with Frances and how she hurts those around her, and by extension herself, through her needlessly harsh barbed remarks and secret keeping.

Bobbi, on the other hand, I gradually grew to like, even though she is arguably as obnoxious as Frances. I have no idea why this happened.

👍🏼Pick It: For that familiar, snuggly style that is the phenomenal Sally Rooney
👎🏼Skip It: until you allow three months of Normal People separation and desensitization

I didn't let the back page of Normal People close before putting Conversations With Friends on hold.

And while it was still stuffed with the same Rooney-reminiscent prose, it didn't carry the same emotional pull.

Perhaps I did her a disservice by reading the two novels back to back. Or perhaps what made Normal People the stronger of the two was its multiple POVs. Much of what made Normal People so searing was knowing where both parties stood and their sheer unwillingness to be vulnerable.

On the other hand, Conversations is a one-woman vulnerability spillage and inner rummaging. And when that sole voice is from 21-year old Francis, placing yourself on her carousel of feelings begins to feel like a selfish indulgence rather than possible and resolvable development.

And still, I'd read this book again and again, because Rooney makes it impossible to not feel and feel tied to the what makes us our most-devastatingly human selves.

Normal People har fått all oppmerksomheten, men dette er en klart bedre bok, og det tror jeg mange anmeldere mener også. Jeg skrev om Normal People at den på tross av god tekst var noe uforløst. Den samme uforløstheten finner jeg i denne boken, men her er den selve poenget, boken framstår mer helhetlig og stram, og mindre som en ung voksen-roman.
En ting som er helt opplagt, er at Marianne i Normal People og Frances i Conversations er en og samme person og Sally Rooneys alter - ego. Noen beskrev Conversations som den første millennials-romanen, og hvis det stemmer må de ha rett de som sier at millennials-generasjonen er de brutte forventningers generasjon, og dermed den ulykkelige generasjonen.

I didn't like this book at all, but I'm giving it 3 stars on the theory that I'm just not the ideal reader for it and I suppose it succeeds at what it sets out to do. I just am not that interested in the neurotic ramblings of an unlikable 21-year-old. And she's not the only one who's unlikable. I didn't care what happened to the lot of them. To top it all off, although Frances and her girlfriend do talk about a wide range of political and philosophical topics, it's hard to argue that the book is in any way ABOUT those topics. They are window dressing for a modern romance. If you like that sort of thing.

I don't even know how to start this review, because I just finished the book yesterday and still haven't stopped thinking about it. It's one of those books that are simplistic, but emotional and describes the character in detail in a way that somewhat allows you to live through them. I will never stop thinking about Frances and Bobbi's character.

I had originally typecast Sally Rooney into a particular brand of light bestseller fiction for Karens. I feel like this book does fit into that genre, but there is definite perspicacity and depth to the observational skill of her writing and its ability to communicate layered depths in her protagonist. There were parts that didn't sit comfortably, particularly the way the power dynamics between the male and female characters where left in a dangerously ambivalent space. I think the story would have benefited from including perspective of the older male character or an older female character.
I wanted the characters to make better choices and others to face some culpability.
No-one, however, can deny the utterly original voice with which Rooney writes, and the engaging compulsive readability of her writing.

First book of Sally Rooney’s I read. She writes very palpable characters. It will feel like you know them, no longer surprised of their actions (good or bad) because you feel their characters would do it, if that makes sense. You just feel bad or good for them about the consequences of their actions.

Wow, I loved this book so much ! I was so involved in my reading, a real page-turner !
I understand that some people didn't like the writing style of Sally, at the beginning I was a little bit lost and I struggled to understand the dialogue. But let's be honest, Sally know how to write in a good, credible and honest way.
I related to Frances so much and maybe it's the reason why I enjoyed this book. All the shit she's going through, Bobbi who was caring but also mean to her and all that... I was living her sadness.
So yeah for me it was a really good book !

3.25 stars and i'll tell you why

the writing was exceptionally well in this book, poetic at the right places and hit home on the other but as with the first one, i could not connect with the characters or the story. it didn't fee personal to me, it felt like i am standing somewhere far away and i am being forced to watch the story unfold. i understood frances' pain but i didn't feel it, you know. i felt an ache in my heart but i didn't want to cry for her. i hated that she was lonely but not once did i want to coddle and embrace her. i felt disassociated the entire time i read this.

in truth, it was a lot better than normal people, and that alone deserves a whole star.

After reading this book it has solidified a few things about Sally Rooney and her writing style. I think reading this book has helped me see the writing evolution from this book to Normal People. The themes of self harming are prominent in both books and Sally Rooney clearly enjoys writing about damaged women. I found some of the themes raised in this book problematic. Similar to normal people Frances just like Marianne is a character that I am deeply worried about and felt anxious to leave behind. The depression and sadness that Frances copes with alongside physical issues is heartbreaking and while so many people love Sally Rooney's books, I think she creates bleak characters that can make the reading experience very claustrophobic. I have so many things I want to discuss about the themes of mental health and sexuality and monogamy in this book so I will do a review of it on my channel soon. Safe to say I didn't like this as much as normal people and I have a few issues with the book so it's a 3.5 stars for me.