"Conversations with Friends" is Sally Rooney's first book that instantly made the 26-year-old Trinity College graduate a globally renowned writer. The novel has traveled the world at the speed of a Snapchat message. The text poses the question: why do people talk so much yet know neither themselves nor each other?
Frances, Bobbi, Nick, and Melissa ask each other countless questions. Their relationships develop in real life and online, as they endlessly drink and talk, talk, talk. They discuss sex and friendship, art and literature, politics and gender issues, and of course, each other. Young Frances frankly shares her complicated relationship with Nick, a man married to her friend.
Yes, of course, this novel can be read as a book about infidelity, coming of age, and the complexities of intimacy. But in reality, it is sharp literature about issues of identity and human communication. Meanwhile, there is a vast chasm between who we are and the "image" we portray to others.
This book is about how easily self-deception can be confused with self-discovery.