CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS

by Sally Rooney

I know I am late to the Sally Rooney party, but I am thrilled to have finally joined. (And I will read Normal People as soon as it comes off the library wait list!). Conversations with Friends is witty, sexy and intelligent without any heavy-handedness. I enjoyed reading it, but it did not feel fluffy or light.

The book follows protagonist Frances who, along with her best friend and ex-girlfriend Benni, performs spoken word poetry while on summer break from university in Dublin. When they meet a well-known writer and her moderately famous actor-husband, the summer gets much more exciting with various couples coming together and breaking up, but everyone socializing and working together.

Frances is an introvert who worries constantly that she doesn’t have a personality.  I found her descriptions morbidly fascinating: working to make her face look a certain way or worrying so intensely about speaking that she often doesn’t speak at all. Although the book on its surface appears to be about a summer affair, the characters also experience a fair amount of pain in their lives. None of them is what I’d call a “good person.” I think Rooney has great depth and incredible style and I look forward to reading much more of her work! (Lily)