Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Conversations with Friends

This review contains spoilers. You have been warned. Only read this if you hate Frances, or love her but want to see the perspective of someone who hates her sees her or about to read this book and just want to read this. If you are part of the latter please search up TWs for this book.

When writing reviews I try my best to be objective, unfortunately, with this book I cannot do that. I have tried writing this review objectively but I cannot physically do that. This is just going to be a rant about how much I despise Frances.

In the book there are points where she thinks she is pregnant and had a miscarriage, had suicidal thoughts, self harmed and her dad is suffering from addiction, though that was not explored nor talked about much.

Frances is an insecure character who is a narcissist at the same time. She is selfish, naive, and idiotic. Throughout the book we see her decline at some point and in a very bad place and doing things that are considered self harm.

I do not like Frances. She is unreliable, and for someone who in the beginning of the book is described as smart, she is rash, idiotic, and unsympathetic, insensitive and selfish.

In the first part of the book I thought I didn't have much feelings towards the book. It was neither despicable nor enthralling. It was when I realised I dreaded picking up the book that I realised how much I did not like Frances. It isn't the writing style of Rooney that I do not like. I've read 'Normal People' and liked it. I understand that Frances is supposed to be showing the rashness that can occur in humanity, how blindness can be dangerous, but I do not like her. Rooney's other work showed flawed characters as well but I enjoyed their journey. I did not despise them to the level I do Frances. I apologise severely once more. I have tried to write Frances in a way that my own views of her do not infiltrate the review but I cannot do it. If someone in the comments can, please, aid me here.

I did not know anything about the book. If I did I would've never picked it up. I despise cheating in books, absolutely abhor it. Frances here is the sidechick who is clearly infatuated with this married man. She keeps it from her best friend because she knows how she would react (hiding something from someone because you know how'd they react, I get that, it's her future actions I despise), she falls in love with this man (a sign Rooney wanted to show how humanity may often be blinded by love). I am adding these parenthesis to show that I do see her point of view and understand it. That does not mean I excuse it nor like her.

At one point in the book she is feeling physical symptoms and sends in a story where Bobbi is clearly Bobbi and I understand that she wasn't thinking straight when she did this but then she proceeded to hide this from her until Melissa emailed Bobbi the story and Bobbi found out. When Bobbi lashed out (and rightfully so) Frances got irked and said she needed the money, (Rooney's portrayal of rashness that can occur in an argument, harshly accurate to reality) something Bobbi wouldn't understand. Frances, sweetheart, YOU'RE the one who didn't ask for consent nor became honest once you felt better.

There is a point in the book where she says "I said I sometimes felt drawn to disclaiming my ethnicity, as if, though I was obviously white, I wasn't 'really' white, like other white people" I understand feeling distant fr one's ethnicity but Frances what the hell.

Then at one point Frances is suffering with her mental health and in the book she said she felt she had to do something 'dramatic' and after she did it, in the book she said, and I quote "she was afraid she'd done something stupid". SH is not a good coping mechanism, I learned that first hand, and I understand Rooney might be trying to show another perspective here but, and excuse my language, what the bloody fuck. That was triggering. It was triggering as fuck. My hatred grew immensely reading that part. Darling, YOU'RE the idiot. Not for self harming, you were just trying to numb the pain and I get that, it's because you went back to Nick. You daft, daft woman. Genuinely, I felt sick reading that part.

At some point in the book Frances says "I love you" to Frances and not in a completely platonic way either. Platonically, I can see it, they kissed a few times in the book but it was never discussed after so can you blame me for not expecting this woman to be fucking in love? Then Bobbi comes back saying "But I love you too." It was rushed and I hate that. I realise this is blatant hate at this point but I truly do not like Frances. This was originally 2 stars but after writing this I might bump it down to 1-1.5 stars.

Then the ending when Frances tells Nick to get her, I cannot. Absolutely not. I hated that so much. The lies in this book. I cannot.

The worst book of the year I've read so far. I hated it.

This is messy and I'm sorry but I just needed to rant.

Content Warnings

ekeeble's review

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reflective medium-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

4.5

Content Warnings

kierscrivener's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

I read it twice in twenty-nine hours. I really loved it.

Content Warnings

char_j's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

Sally Rooney's work tends to seep into me--it's not something that hits me immediately with moving presence, but months later, I find myself craving the intimate interiors of her work. Her depiction of truly human characters is painful, accurate, sometimes as hard to read as some people are hard to be around. There was never one moment when I didn't believe that a character would do/say a particular thing, because they were so wholly complex and comprehensible.

Rooney tackles so many things in this novel, from ideological discussions of class and feminist theory to the dangerous minutiae of self harm. She depicts existential--questioning? dread?--so well, not as an overwhelming wave, but as small intrusive thoughts, "At any time I felt I could do or say anything at all, and only afterwards think: oh, so that’s the kind of person I am". I felt a frustrating sense of identifying with Francis at times, how a definitive sense of identity seems to evade you the more you reach for it, and the way she views those around her not necessarily with rose tinted glasses, but certainly a lessened harshness than she applies to herself.

Frankly, I felt a little bored with this novel at times. But, I actually consider that a kind of attribute of the novel; it's not flashy, but so deeply realistic. Life is boring at times, but to create a story and characters that intrigue you despite the mundane nature of their lives is not only impressive, but reflective of reality as well.

I am excited to see how I will feel about and reflect upon this novel in a few months' time. I read Normal People last spring, and enjoyed it, but not massively. Then last week I had what can only be described as a craving to re-enter the story, but I picked up Conversations with Friends, because I had lent my copy of Normal People to a friend. I suspect that Francis's emotions, and her interpretations of them, will sink into me in a similar way in time.

Content Warnings

snowwpuppet's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

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