Review: Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

University student Francis is living a comfortable life in Dublin. She is an aspiring writer with a considerable amount of talent, and she has a close and comfortable relationship with her ex-girlfriend Bobbi and the two work together creating and performing poetry. Suddenly her life begins to unravel when she and Bobbi are befriended by a couple in their thirties Melissa and Nick. Over the course of her adventures--being pulled into a sophisticated adult world--Francis finds her relationships tested to the limits and herself confronting her own vulnerabilities for the first time.

I found this one to be a difficult read. Francis is not the easiest of characters to like and nor is she meant to be. Then again neither is Bobbi. However, what I really struggled with in the novel is although Francis and Bobbi are in their very early twenties, the behaviour of Melissa and Nick feels quite predatory from the very beginning. It was obvious to me from the outset that the younger girls were being used to spice up their lacklustre marriage. It doesn't make for enjoyable reading, then again I don't think it was supposed to. More interesting is the dynamics of Francis and Bobbi's relationship, Francis' relationship with her parents and her struggles with endometriosis--and how these things change her outlook on life. The most compelling part of the novel is the realisation of how many problems could be solved through simple communication, something that Francis struggles with.

I cannot say that I loved this one, or thought that it was anything other than miserable, but it still makes for interesting reading.

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