Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Converses entre amics

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Converses entre amics by Sally Rooney, Núria Parés Sellarés

47 reviews

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

my second go with Sally Rooney (first being Normal People), and this time was much more enjoyable. nowhere near as bleak and depressing, but still very emotional. i found the narrator’s desperate need for validation relatable; me too girlie. really well plotted. don’t be fooled by the title though: it’s a lot of internal monologue and more about the conversations that didn’t happen than the ones that did.

i have to comment on the US cover, especially for the audiobook (storygraph shows a different one but you can see what i’m talking about here: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DTekX2n4L._SL500_.jpg). first of all, i don’t mind the composition but i dislike the art style, its flatness and lifelessness when this book is all about complex characters. but what really bothers me is that i think some other artist was given the task of adapting the cover art to a square aspect ratio for the audiobook, and literally copied, pasted, and mirrored the original tightly-cropped faces, adding in the nose bits. because, why are they so symmetrical?? why are their facial features so small?? it’s firmly in the uncanny valley. shoutout to the Danish cover, though, so pretty: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/0bf9c4f3-3123-4d7b-a6b5-8955ff06e5f6
edit: the Russian hardcover is also beautiful: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/183d6a3b-d207-4cfb-aa9e-e36bc6df3f84

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seforana's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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leialeilani's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I have mixed feelings about this novel. The writing style is interesting, and Rooney does capture some of the complexities and self-absorbed behaviors of early twenty-somethings, but it also felt flat and stuttering, like reading a list.

The main characters receive almost no physical description beyond their whiteness and their beauty (I don’t even know their hair colors—Bobbi has dark fringe, I think Frances is a brunette?, Nick has light hair, and Melissa is maybe a blonde?), so it was difficult to picture them as people and connect to them.

The absence of quotation marks for dialogue usually feels pleasantly dreamlike to me, but in this case it removed me further from the story. Despite the characters’ realistic, and often messy and contradictory, behaviors and emotions, the whole book felt unreal in an unenjoyable way. I was a remote observer viewing Frances’ choices and experiences through a foggy glass, unable to see the people clearly or to really feel the emotion of the events. I mostly felt bored or annoyed in the beginning and then sad in the second half. I didn’t vibe with the humor or connect with the rather flat characters, and I found it tiring to read about such emotionally constipated people and their nearly endless miscommunications.

However, despite my dissatisfying experience with the book, I do think there’s something there; I’m just not the right audience for it. There are likely people who would relate to Frances and the uncertainty of being a soon-to-be college graduate with no plans, no concrete desires or interests, and with a strong urge for human connection and to be loved but too little experience with expressing emotion and practicing kindness. Human relationships are complex, messy, and ever-changing. We are always learning how to more effectively express ourselves and how to better share time, love, and life with other people.

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dfram's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this is a story about love, in many forms. i liked only one of the characters, everyone else was so unlikable i wanted to punch them in the face (and THAT is what i loved the most about this book). i wasn’t on anyone’s side, because these characters captured the complexity of relationships and feelings and being human so well. everyone was right and everyone was wrong in a lot of ways. i loved normal people by sally rooney, and this book wasn’t what i expected it to be; i’m not disappointed by it, and i’m also not super sure i would read it again.

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