Conversations with Friends Review

Conversations with Friends is a novel unlike anything I've ever read, yet still entirely authentic to the dysfunctional cycles of reality. 

The novel is summarized as, "A sharply intelligent novel about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple." (Courtesy of Goodreads).

Sally Rooney explores the complexities of desire and how we navigate the social constructs that often hinder the capacity at which we direct our love. The novel is an acute challenge to monogamy with regard to how a person is capable of loving more than one person ethically.

I related to Frances, the young narrator, so intensely that I often found myself resenting myself for her actions. Rooney's novel feels like a parallel universe of how my life could unfold. It's an unusually sharp feeling to experience something you anxiously predict happening for yourself written by a stranger. Despite the turmoil of the characters, there is beauty in how they shape each other. With that, it felt okay for things to have happened the way they did. I now hope to apply that logic to my reality. Proof that Rooney's writing has the power to influence the reader. 

Lastly, to give merit to the literary brilliance of Rooney, I must discuss her unique writing style. Rooney somehow manages to stun the reader with prose that can be described as flat and muted. Rooney avoids theatricalized emotion allowing the raw feelings of her characters to manifest. Sally Rooney is a rare talent who has yet to disappoint the literary scene.