NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • From the New York Times bestselling author of Normal People . . . “[A] cult-hit . . . [a] sharply realistic comedy of adultery and friendship.”—Entertainment Weekly
SALLY ROONEY NAMED TO THE TIME 100 NEXT LIST • WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK) YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD • ONE OF BUZZFEED’S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Vogue, Slate • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Elle
Frances is a coolheaded and darkly observant young woman, vaguely pursuing a career in writing while studying in Dublin. Her best friend is the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi. At a local poetry performance one night, they meet a well-known photographer, and as the girls are then gradually drawn into her world, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and handsome husband, Nick. But however amusing Frances and Nick’s flirtation seems at first, it begins to give way to a strange—and then painful—intimacy.
Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
“Sharp, funny, thought-provoking . . . a really great portrait of two young women as they’re figuring out how to be adults.”—Celeste Ng, Late Night with Seth Meyers Podcast
“The dialogue is superb, as are the insights about communicating in the age of electronic devices. Rooney has a magical ability to write scenes of such verisimilitude that even when little happens they’re suspenseful.”—Curtis Sittenfeld, The Week
“Rooney has the gift of imbuing everyday life with a sense of high stakes . . . a novel of delicious frictions.”—New York
“A writer of rare confidence, with a lucid, exacting style . . . One wonderful aspect of Rooney’s consistently wonderful novel is the fierce clarity with which she examines the self-delusion that so often festers alongside presumed self-knowledge. . . . But Rooney’s natural power is as a psychological portraitist. She is acute and sophisticated about the workings of innocence; the protagonist of this novel about growing up has no idea just how much of it she has left to do.”—Alexandra Schwartz,The New Yorker
“This book. This book. I read it in one day. I hear I’m not alone.”—Sarah Jessica Parker (Instagram)
Initial thoughts:Conversations with Friends challenges the reader to put aside any prejudice and to keep an open mind. The main character, a 21-year-old university student, is distant, believes she's wholly undeserving of attention or affection, yet fancies herself a great deal more intelligent than most, all while making a series of poor choices.
This psychological exploration of her life takes the reader through ambiguous relationships, politics, religion, familial ties, mental illness, and more. These are driven by seemingly empty conversations bordering on inane that at the same time carry much more weight when you dig deeper. For better or for worse, the plot did suffer, as a result.
Listening to the audiobook helped me connect to the characters more than I would've reading the print version. It allowed me to slip into the conversations, as though I had been present in those moments myself. They reminded me of my own university days, when friends related experiences and thoughts under the stars at 3 a.m. when they knew they'd face no judgment.
Despite the unlikable nature of the characters involved, I found myself drawn into their spheres. They made me think about my own failures and triumphs in ways that only introspective books can. No doubt, this book encompassed the messiness and complications we all face in life, although in the case of Conversations with Friends, much of that could've been avoided with more good sense. Then again, if we were all perfect, what stories would be left to tell?
