Short book review on the first book I read in 2021, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.
So this book wasn't really a deliberate read, If I am being honest....
It was more of a Goodreads recommendation that I happened to chance upon rather than something I looked and chose to start reading in this new year!
Firstly, looking at the recommended list and some of the reviews - I had pretty good expectations from this novel from a "Fresh . coming of age writer".
The book is about the coming of age into adulthood of a 21 year old woman called Frances and her struggles of growing up with friendship and love.
The premise does sound interesting. The Book Title sounded much more interesting to me though!
Frances and Bobbi are best friends cum ex lovers. Frances loves to write prose and poetry and they both are active speakers at Open Houses in clubs and cafes.
It is quite interesting to see that they manage to understand and collaborate so easily with each other when they have such an intense history shared together. It is about first love indeed in this case. And as so very often people still believe, you never really forget your first lover - but can you choose to stay best friends and even share an apartment together ?
THIS, would have been the best part and story to explore for me as a reader.
The story begins to take a very different turn when the couple Melissa and Nick are introduced. It seems like the writer decided to explore different avenues and facets in the same novel itself. So there is adultery, there is psychological thoughts and pressure of the main protagonist and there is friendship.
For me it was all too much. Novel could have been better without the adultery part. Or more so, I would have loved to explore the dealing and settling down after the affair. After being the other woman, can you really come out as a better person ? Can you be friends with the couple still ? Can you try and fill gaps in your mind and explore the understanding of relations better? The book doesn't talk about this much.
Frances, who is deeply moved and shaped by Bobbi in her life - looks backwards to their conversations on email for certain topics when she needs help dealing with thoughts in her mind. This is for me the best part in the book, because it truly reflects the psyche and thoughts what Frances as a person was feeling and wanted to do...
Alas, the writer chose to explore too much of everything in my opinion. And the true nature of friendship and conversations with friends (as a cohabitating social system filled with life support) is lost it's true nature. Friends fight, they react, but they will be there when you reach out. ALWAYS.
It would have done the trick if it would have stuck to its path from the beginning. BOBBI and FRANCES could have explored a whole different meaning of relationships together!
But this is totally my opinion, of course without giving out much spoilers! If you guys are still interested to read this through, you can grab your copy online or from your local bookstore or even audible.
"Everyone's always going through something, aren't they? That's life, basically. It's just more and more things to go through. You have all this shit going on with your dad that you never talk about. It's not like things are so perfect for you."
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