Conversations With Friends

I'm currently reading Conversations With Friends, Sally Rooney's debut novel. Rooney and her quintessential, melancholy, sans-quotation mark style, have recently been very "big" in the contemporary fiction world. Personally, I have an agenda to read all of her work in order to be considered "cool" in the literary circles I like to imagine I'm part of.

Rooney's sophomore novel, Normal People, which I have already read, parallels Conversations With Friends in an uncanny way that makes the two stories feel like a pair. Both center around 20-something "intellectuals" who attend Trinity College in Dublin, take European vacations, and spend much of their time discussing things that are "important." However, beyond those obvious similarities are the perpetuating themes of power, abuse, and power disparity that exist in everyday relationships. I don't think either story is particularly remarkable or groundbreaking in terms of the general plot, but I do admire Rooney's ability to consistently address an issue within her prose.

One critique I have is that it feels "cheap" to publish multiple books that so clearly mirror each other. There were moments while reading Conversations with Friends that I felt I had basically read the same scenario in Normal People. It seemed to be the same story told with slightly different characters. But from an analytical standpoint, it's clear how Conversations was almost an inception or trial run for Normal People.

Rooney's complete disuse of quotation marks is an adjustment for those used to the regular novel. Dialogue, which is a major part of both stories, often reads like stream-of-conscious thoughts, rather than distinct verbal exchanges. This is especially apparent in Conversations With Friends, which is told exclusively from the viewpoint of one not very well-adjusted character. The "unreliable narrator" is in full effect here, but I feel it allows the reader to feel ingrained in the heads of the main characters.

An odd recurring motif in Rooney's novels is women, particularly the main characters, being abused. Not only are both female protagonists victims of cruel fathers, but they often "get off" on being belittled, in life and the bedroom, by their male romantic interests. I honestly felt uncomfortable during those scenes and felt like the mental illnesses present in both stories were not properly addressed. Conversations did a better job of trying to help the main character than Normal People, but both fell short in my opinion. I found it an odd and somewhat disturbing storyline to include in both novels.

I'm unsure which book I enjoy more, because my feelings toward them have improved after reading them both and understanding how they fit together. I would recommend reading them if you're into pretentious, melancholy, "of-the-moment" literature (like me lol).

For more insights into Conversations With Friends, Normal People, and the world of Sally Rooney, check out these links:

•The New Yorker on Normal People, "A New Kind of Adultery Novel"

•Literary Friction Podcast, Episode: Conversations With Sally Rooney

•Literary Friction Podcast, Episode: Literary Friction Special -- Sally Rooney

•The Guardian, "How Sally Rooney’s novel became the literary phenomenon of the decade"

•Vox, "The cult of Sally Rooney"

•Hulu/BBC drama series, Normal People

Have you read any of Sally Rooney's novels? What did you think?