Review:Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney's debut novel 'Conversations with Friends' demonstrates the brilliant potential of a talented new author but it is by no means a literary masterpiece.

So, I'm in Waterstones and the yellow spine of a book along the top shelf catches my eye. I take it down and my brother comments that I should get it because apparently it's really good. I tell him to never tell me what to do again and slapped him repeatedly with said book...that part of the story may be a little embellished, and by embellished I mean in reality I said ok, and bought the book. The blurb describes the main character, Frances, and her connection with her best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobbi who she performs spoken word poems with. It also alludes to her relationship with a married man (Nick) who is the husband of Melissa, a journalist who interviews her.

The greatness of this novel is linked to the style of realism that Rooney adopts. Each line is filled with seemingly meaningless details such as: "He lifted the dog into his arms and let the dog lick his neck and jaw. He said he would feed her, and he went back out the kitchen door again." Although moments like this might not hold a great importance in helping to forward the overall plot, it creates a distinctly vivid world for the reader to be engrossed in. This is because it comments on the ordinariness present in their lives and so makes this world more identifiable...I personally didn't relate to it though because my life is constantly filled with remarkable moments like finding unicorns and being dressed in the morning by woodland creatures...honestly it's exhausting, I have to sing a beautiful duet with them while they mix up the top buttons on my shirt.

This engrossing style of the novel made up for the actual plot. The idea of Frances and Nick embarking on an affair was something I struggled to understand even after finishing the novel. This was due to the insipid nature of Nick's personality. Their connection seemed to be held up by the constant reminder that he is physically attractive to Frances rather than being a character who ever has anything interesting to say. This made the story seem less believable to me because of the complexity of Frances' character and why she would be interested in Nick in the first place. As well as being complex Frances is a decidedly unlikeable character. I'm not sure if the strained relationship she has with her alcoholic father is supposed to make her seem more vulnerable to the reader but I wasn't convinced by this. Her attitude towards the affair is remarkably cold, as she is so enwrapped with how great the sex is, keeping it a secret and not declaring her true and more meaningful feelings to Nick. One almost forgets that she is ruining Melissa's marriage but there never seems to be a definitive expression of guilt shown by Frances as she continues to act on her desire even when on holiday with the two of them. Rooney again tries to trivialise the awfulness of Frances' behaviour by revealing early on in the novel that Melissa has had two affairs and her relationship with Nick is so estranged that they sleep in different bedrooms. I don't think these two facts sufficiently excuse Frances' behaviour enough to make her affair seem more acceptable or her personality even likeable as a result.

Despite these disappointing aspects, Rooney has an outstanding way of keeping her foot on the accelerator throughout the novel so much so that I practically finished the book in one sitting. Interestingly, despite the plot revolving around Nick and Frances I was most captivated by Bobbi. Her character stole the show for me as she most noticeably removes herself as a pawn in Frances' game to make Nick jealous: "I turned to Bobbi, smiling, and moved her hair aside to whisper something in her ear. She looked at Nick and then suddenly grabbed my wrist, hard [...] In a deathly calm voice, staring straight into my face, Bobbi said: don't fucking use me." I wanted to step into Bobbi's world instead and see what she was up to and what provoked her to act in ways like this. Main characters are often perhaps the least interesting people in stories because they don't lend themselves to elements of mystery unlike characters such as Bobbi.

Overall, it is a pretty impressive piece of work for something that was reportedly written in three months and hopefully Sally Rooney's fingers have recovered from the speed in which she presumably used them to type with.