I just finished reading Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney and I am worried as to why I did not like it.
I can easily appreciate how pleasant Rooney’s writing is and on paper this novel was supposed to tick all the boxes to be, if not my all time favourite, a great read to bring along on holidays.
Female main character, some social themes, romance, an unconventional love or two and, interestingly, if I tell the story out-loud, I still see its appeal.
Still, I find myself entirely disapproving of the whole thing.
The main character has a weird way of being self-critical and absolutely insufferable all throughout. It seems like everyone likes her much more than she likes them, but her inner monologue seems to be only focus on how much she would like to be loved more.
Even more infuriating to me is how all social discourse is treated as conversation pieces. How can you be excused with addressing such burning topics in a novel primarily revolving around love? Is it just to make it deeper than it actually is, to enrich the whole things to it’s appealing to a more mature, millennial audience?
I’ve been struggling to see how it became the sensation it is.
I have considered all possibilities, including that I have become somehow too bourgeois to just enjoy good writing. I turned 30 this year after all.
But honestly now TL;DR – Is it just me, or is Conversations With Friends too much, but weirdly not enough?
by zeroschiuma