Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Conversations with Friends

I’m not a fan of the writing style (no quotation marks), but overall I found it to be an enjoyable read. None of the characters are likeable but I found the depth of the inner dialogue to be so relatable.
It did feel a little bit copy and paste from normal people, just with a married couple though.

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nineinchnails's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

frances was painfully relatable and i really loved her despite all the secondhand embarrassment and frustration. i definitely came out of it confused and conflicted on how to feel about nick but at least i don’t completely loathe him! for now this is tied with normal people but i’m not sure if it’ll measure up beyond the short term since i really loved normal people.

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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reflective 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

4.5

My first time reading a Sally Rooney book didn’t disappoint! This is a powerful debut that perfectly reflects what it means to be in your early twenties: making a lot of bad decisions. I would probably find Frances (the protagonist) insufferable if I didn’t relate to her so damn much, from her tendency to close off and snap at people when given the opportunity to be vulnerable, to her having a panic attack about the inevitable heat death of the universe. Books like this can be difficult to read because the main characters show us the worst parts of ourselves, the parts that we don’t necessarily want to address. Every single character is complex and flawed and very interesting. Sally Rooney’s writing is incredible, she has a very “show don’t tell” approach with a focus on the small details that make up the big picture. I do feel like the book could’ve been a little shorter as it lost steam a bit in the final chapters, but I really enjoyed my first venture into her novels and I look forward to reading more!

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theliteraryteapot's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I have absolutely zero tolerance when it comes to adultery so obviously this was not a book for me. Yes, I understand the characters are meant to be very flawed and all that stuff, okay and then what? What do we do with this and them? Because it certainly didn't feel like any of them grew out of this, they seem stuck and there's barely a sign for a future character development. They all need therapy.
Add to that, as someone who grew up in the countryside, coming from a half-romani family, not rich, not bourgeois, with poor access to culture and literature, reading this book about privileged white rich and bourgeois (plus shitty and not genuine) people felt weird and useless. Their supposed political ideas felt so very performative.

On the endometriosis aspect, as I have the disease, I can't judge much because it can manifest in many different ways from one person to another. The only thing (maybe I'm nitpicking here), is that no you don't necessarily need a surgery to confirm a diagnosis, an mri scan is enough. And no, endometriosis is not just painful periods and infertility, it's so much more, so many other symptoms and different types of pain (outside periods and ovulations).

Also, I've seen people debating on Rooney's writing style and I don't get why? There's nothing to say to it, it's easy to read and very accessible.

It's funny because on paper Frances could have been my representation I guess: bi, endometriosis, poetess, studying literature, financially struggling (except for the fact her uncle owns her apartment), and yet... Nothing worked for me. It's just not for me.

I'm glad it got me out of a reading slump and I'm glad to see endometriosis more in fiction. That's it.

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daylightdaisy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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jillaay_h's review

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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aubriss's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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kpiel's review against another edition

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emotional sad 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? Yes

2.75

This book lacked much of a plot or character development, and all of the characters were so truly flawed it wasn’t easy to like any of them or want to keep reading. There were quite a few times when I thought “what is the point of all this; what is this building up to?”, just to have those questions remain unanswered at the end of the book. I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone, hence the low star rating, however upon reflection, I have found some value in this kind of story.

The characters are very human, with deep human flaws, and making true human mistakes. And I think that is why it was so tough to keep reading, because there are parts of the characters that I see in myself and/or others that I’m close to. And reading something that hits a little too close to home doesn’t give me the escape that I usually seek when turning to books. But I understand that this was likely the point of the book— a realistic, raw view of one perspective of the human experience.

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