Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Converses entre amics

Are the characters obnoxious ? Yes.
Selfish? Yes.
Pretentious? Yes.
But can I also relate to the complexities of navigating self esteem, feelings, relationships, and friendships during early adulthood? Absolutely yes.

The main characters being intolerable does not make this a bad book! I don’t believe everyone has to be pleasant/charming in order for readers to understand their intricate inner thoughts. I also think that this makes the characters more realistic to me as well. In fact, I think this is intentional on Sally Rooney’s part.

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jaklyn_heath_reads's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a tough read for a few different reasons.
At first, I really didn’t like any of the characters. But I soon came to appreciate the story that Sally Rooney was telling.
Do I like the characters now that I’ve finished the book? Not really. They have a lot of flaws and make some questionable decisions that I didn’t understand but that I could appreciate as they were consistent with their characterization.

Next, the tough topics. This novel discusses themes of adultery, mental health crises, self-harm, endometriosis, and sexuality. It isn’t easy to read a character going through excruciating pain, or disassociating, or cheating on their wife.

The ending. It leaves things unresolved almost like a cliff hanger. I don’t know if I liked the ending. I wish the characters got some sort of closure. Scratch that. I wish I got some sort of closure.

Jaklyn, it sounds like you didn’t like the book. Why did you give it 4 stars?
I loved the storytelling. I wanted to keep reading (or listening in my case). I wanted to know if the bad decisions were going to cause some sort of karma event to take place. I wanted to know how everything would blow up or fall apart or somehow stay together. I wanted to see growth in the characters (there was some). I was committed to the story. And Rooney has a way of telling a story. It felt real and raw and completely believable. I was enthralled.

Will this be one of my favourite books of all time? No. But I do see myself thinking about for a long while. I think I liked Normal People better, but this was very good too.

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jesswhiteside's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn’t really realise until later, but I found the beginning of the book less enjoyable and a little stilted - you have to wait a bit for the pace to kick off, for the writing to develop and to find yourself really falling into the characters and the story. The entirety of the middle/rest of the book though, I found myself hooked into, attached to the characters completely and drawn along at Rooney’s whim, falling into the story and where it took me. I felt as though I couldn’t look away from the words on the page, I needed to read Frances’ thoughts and words and feelings. I loved a lot about this book, and I’m unsure how I feel about the ending. I don’t hate it, and I like what it says about humanity and relationships and the book’s characters in some ways, but I’m not yet sure how I feel beyond that. I haven’t finished Normal People as I had to pause reading it to prioritise my library books, but although I loved the story of Marianne and Connell, I think I like Rooney’s writing in Conversations with Friends far more than in Normal People. I think I love this a lot.

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