Conversations with Friends
Conversations with Friends is the 2017 debut novel by the Irish author Sally Rooney. The novel was published by Faber and Faber.
.png.webp) First edition cover | |
| Author | Sally Rooney |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Aoife McMahon |
| Country | Republic of Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
Publication date | 25 May 2017 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 978-0-571-33312-7 |
| OCLC | 1031891111 |
| 823/.92 | |
| LC Class | PR6118.O59 C66 2017 |
History
The book was completed whilst Rooney was still studying to write and complete her master's degree in American literature.[1] The book was subject to a seven-party auction for the publishing rights.[1] Rights were eventually sold in 12 countries.[2]
The novel was published in June 2017 by Faber and Faber.[1] It was nominated for the 2018 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize,[3] and the 2018 Folio Prize.[4]
Plot
The book details the relationships among four people – Frances (the narrator), Bobbi (her best friend), and Melissa and Nick (a married couple).[5]
Reception
Conversations with Friends received positive reviews.[6] Overall, critics enjoyed Rooney's prose, clarity, and sharp characters. Writing for The New Yorker, Alexandra Schwartz praises Rooney, noting that, "she writes with a rare, thrilling confidence, in a lucid and exacting style uncluttered with the sort of steroidal imagery and strobe flashes of figurative language that so many dutifully literary novelists employ."[7] Schwartz continues, "one wonderful aspect of Rooney’s consistently wonderful novel is the fierce clarity with which she examines the self-delusion that so often festers alongside presumed self-knowledge."[7] The Guardian similarly praised the author, noting how, "Rooney writes so well of the condition of being a young, gifted but self-destructive woman, both the mentality and physicality of it. She is alert to the invisible bars imprisoning the apparently free."[8] Reviewing for Slate, Katy Waldman described how "Sally Rooney is a planter of small surprises, sowing them like landmines. They relate to behavior and psychology—characters zigging when you expect them to zag, from passivity to sudden aggression and back."[9] Waldman further applauds the novel, noting that "Rooney herself is acute and sensitive—she may have pinned these fragile creatures to a board, but her eye is not cruel. Bobbi, Frances, Nick, and Melissa excel at endearing banter and hesitant, vulnerable disclosure. They are all thrillingly sharp, hyperverbal."[9]
References
- Paula Cocozza (24 May 2017). "'I have an aversion to failure': Sally Rooney feels the buzz of her debut novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- "Meet the new faces of fiction for 2017". The Observer. 22 January 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- Francesca Pymm (29 March 2018). "Conversations with Authors: Sally Rooney talks to The Bookseller". The Bookseller. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- "Announcing: the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018 Shortlist" (PDF). Folio Prize. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- Alexandra Schwartz (31 July 2017). "A New Kind of Adultery Novel". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- "Bookmark | Book Marks". Retrieved 2021-01-26.
- Schwartz, Alexandra. "A New Kind of Adultery Novel". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
- "Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney review – young, gifted and self-destructive". the Guardian. 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
- Waldman, Katy (2017-08-03). "Tell Me I'm Interesting". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2021-01-26.