Scan barcode
ariellesbooked's review against another edition
4.0
If you love [a:Sally Rooney|15860970|Sally Rooney|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534007127p2/15860970.jpg] the way that I love Sally Rooney (so, everything she writes is the best thing I've ever read), you'll likely enjoy this essay from the Spring 2015 issue of The Dublin Review.
This essay is one of her first published pieces and apparently led to her submitting the manuscript for [b:Conversations with Friends|32187419|Conversations with Friends|Sally Rooney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638729263l/32187419._SY75_.jpg|52827120]. It deals with the world of competitive debating, which is not something I realized was so prominently featured in Rooney's school years.
Admittedly, I didn't know a lot about professional debating. However, I was not surprised to find that many of the same social issues that impact various aspects of academia remained relevant, specifically the treatment of class and gender. Rooney makes a point of illuminating these issues, as well as acknowledging her own privilege within this sphere.
The essay opens with an accident and never really circles back to that. However, there is a nice sense of symmetry with the Fast Eddie Felson reference. It was refreshing seeing Rooney writing on something autobiographical, since I've only ever read her novels and short stories. Totally think her writing style would thrive in a memoir-format. Fingers crossed that I can manifest that for us all...
This essay is one of her first published pieces and apparently led to her submitting the manuscript for [b:Conversations with Friends|32187419|Conversations with Friends|Sally Rooney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638729263l/32187419._SY75_.jpg|52827120]. It deals with the world of competitive debating, which is not something I realized was so prominently featured in Rooney's school years.
Admittedly, I didn't know a lot about professional debating. However, I was not surprised to find that many of the same social issues that impact various aspects of academia remained relevant, specifically the treatment of class and gender. Rooney makes a point of illuminating these issues, as well as acknowledging her own privilege within this sphere.
The essay opens with an accident and never really circles back to that. However, there is a nice sense of symmetry with the Fast Eddie Felson reference. It was refreshing seeing Rooney writing on something autobiographical, since I've only ever read her novels and short stories. Totally think her writing style would thrive in a memoir-format. Fingers crossed that I can manifest that for us all...
annereading's review against another edition
4.0
"Must so many male speakers really use rape as a metaphor for something else?"
"The most ambitious debaters go out of their way to absorb information about sexual violence, racial profiling, police brutality: issues many of them will never experience firsthand. I did the same thing. Did it make me more empathetic and self-aware? Or did it just continue to affirm the idea that if I were smart and competitive enough, I could speak for anyone I wanted?"
"I thought about things only as hard and as thoroughly as my grades required. Maybe I stopped debating to see if I could still think of things to say when there weren’t any prizes."
Yeah, I’m boring, I know. I’ll be coming back to that, it was so damn good. Read this essay, it’s worth it and an amazing time investment.
"The most ambitious debaters go out of their way to absorb information about sexual violence, racial profiling, police brutality: issues many of them will never experience firsthand. I did the same thing. Did it make me more empathetic and self-aware? Or did it just continue to affirm the idea that if I were smart and competitive enough, I could speak for anyone I wanted?"
"I thought about things only as hard and as thoroughly as my grades required. Maybe I stopped debating to see if I could still think of things to say when there weren’t any prizes."
Yeah, I’m boring, I know. I’ll be coming back to that, it was so damn good. Read this essay, it’s worth it and an amazing time investment.
janietheereader's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy Rooney's writing, if not always her fictional plots. This is no exception. There is something effortless about this essay, the fluid moving in and out of topics, holding to the central theme of her history as a debater while in university. At the very least, I think there to be a very important message about chasing things that are appealing in their title, as opposed to your interest in them.
annikarae's review
3.0
coming face to face with the irrelevance of your own strivings demands some kind of response.
bunsolved's review against another edition
5.0
i think this one may be my favourite read out of Sally's short stories
jheinemann287's review against another edition
5.0
"Maybe I stopped debating to see if I could still think of things to say when there weren’t any prizes. To a greater or lesser extent, I am still working on that."
morgandi's review against another edition
4.0
“Maybe I stopped debating to see if I could still think of things to say when there weren’t any prizes”.