Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

28 reviews

yourwordsalitmatch's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved the writing style of this book. I had to get used to it first but the way Sally Rooney writes feels very authentic and honest.
For the book: It was good. But there where a few things that really bothered me (hence the 3.75 stars). Mental health is a very big issue in the book. And I don't mean the fact that we learn about Nick's past problems. The main characters mental health (and also her dad's) is rapidly getting worse and it never really gets addressed properly in the book. Maybe that is done on purpose but I don't really understand why (if it's in purpose)? I was waiting for someone close to Francis to act or at least mention it. Especially Nick given the fact the he knows what it's like to be severly depressed?? At some point it almost felt illogical to me that no one ever talked about it. Big parts of Francis behavior (and development along the story) reminded me of the Bell jar. Maybe this is going over my head but I just don't get how mental health, self harm, suicidal thoughts, severe depressiv episodes can be such a big focus of a book without ever being relevant to the story in any way. I hope anyone understands what I'm trying to say here. It's not easy to explain what I mean. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

sarahrosea's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, and Domestic abuse

warboyziri's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Absolutely Fucking Unhinged Protagonist Universe is here to stay

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Mental illness

dannythestreet's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Cursing, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infertility

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Car accident, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Homophobia, Police brutality, Sexual violence, and War

marissasa's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I thought this book was quite boring and nothing really happened. The characters weren't likable or particularly interesting, except for Bobbi occasionally when she would go on long rants, though those were not frequent and she didn't do much besides that in terms of plot. I'm glad I listened to this on audiobook at 2x speed because I don't think I would have finished it otherwise, I just didn't care about the characters or anything that was happening to them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Domestic abuse

reader_in_the_meadow's review

challenging emotional reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The 2017 contemporary fiction novel Conversations With Friendsby Irish author and screenwriter Sally Rooney tells the story of 21-year old Frances and how her interactions with her peers influences her and her life.
The book consists of a total of 31 chapters in two consecutive parts, acknowledgements and information about the author. 

There is not much going on plotwise, since this novels main focus are the characters and their relationships. Still, the story that is there is very thought out and leaves only so many gaps that the reader can interpret as they want. 

Like I said, the main focus of this novel are the Characters and their relationships. Therefore the individual characters are developed very thouroughly and do not lack any personality. Sure, there are some that are not as deep as others, but overall there is no lack of character.
I did find most of the characters likeable but there were also some I could not find myself to like. 

Rooney's writing style has found a place very dear to me. Her prose and way of telling the story are very immersive. I love how she uses her writing to give the reader complete insight into the main characters thoughts. I think that her writing is a very unique one which gives it character and depth. 

I can only recommend this novel. If you do plan to read this, please check the content warnings first like with every book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infertility, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

mayg's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Miscarriage and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

haleylooloo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This books was so interesting. Sally Rooney sure knows how to write them. 

I found the characters were likable, despite the fact that I normally have very strong moral lines drawn around the decisions that the characters made. I appreciated the moral ambiguity and lack of concrete conclusion to the issues at the end. The discussions had by the main characters were very interesting, and Frances’ internal dialogue was quite thought provoking. As a woman of similar age, I feel like I have had many of the same lines of thought as her, particularly around self-image and things like that, though Rooney always seems to take it a bit further. I also really appreciated the detailed episodes of endometriosis pain. It is something that so many women struggle with and I like that she didn’t shy away from describing the pain, and also the anxiety of not knowing what’s going on & subsequent helplessness once you know.

Overall, I haven’t entirely entirely decided how I feeling/what I think about this book. Will likely edit this review soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

masha__me's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, and Sexual content

Moderate: Infertility and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

kasijagaber's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Domestic abuse