Entertainment

Book reviews: Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends an exceptional introduction

May author Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends is an addictive read Picture: hayfestival.com
May author Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends is an addictive read Picture: hayfestival.com May author Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends is an addictive read Picture: hayfestival.com

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney, published in hardback by Faber and Faber

CONVERSATIONS With Friends is 25-year-old Castlebar, Co Mayo, writer Sally Rooney's debut novel. It is a gripping first book, which tells the story of 21-year-old Frances and her increasingly complicated friendships. Frances is an aspiring writer/poet and English student, living, but defiantly not working, in Dublin, with her friend (and sometimes girlfriend) Bobbi. It establishes the importance of female friendship, the all-consuming nature of first love and loves, and the difficulty of navigating your way through your 20s, both politically and emotionally. Frances embarks on an affair with an older married man, but refreshingly Rooney's writing remains lacking in judgment. She has littered the novel with references to modern popular culture, with nods to Animal Collective and Chris Kraus's I Love Dick – at times it reads like a hipster Mills and Boon. It is an addictive read and an exceptional introduction, Sally Rooney is a name to remember.

Frances Wright

FICTION

The Woolgrower's Companion by Joy Rhoades, published in hardback by Chatto & Windus

A LAWYER-turned-writer now living in London, in her debut, Joy Rhoades uses her memories of her grandmother's sheep farm to create this pastoral romance. The story begins in January 1945 and moves through the final months of the Second World War. It's an easy-to-read tale of Australian rural life and family drama. The protagonist Kate is not always easy to like, but we sympathise with her predicament as she copes on a remote sheep farm with an absentee, soldier husband and an ailing, war veteran father. Kate turns to a tatty copy of The Woolgrower's Companion when she realises her father is struggling to manage the drought-struck farm, and she does her best with a difficult farm manager and his orphaned nephew, two Italian POWs and a young aboriginal maid. Rhoades paints a vivid picture of the Australian bush, the strict social code, snobbery and racism. Each chapter begins with a quote from a fictional farming guide and this is occasionally clumsy, but makes a neat structure for the book.

Sue Barraclough

The Answers by Catherine Lacey, published in paperback by Granta

CHRONIC pain sufferer Mary Parsons has started to give up. Equally crippled by debt and pain, she begins an unorthodox treatment that offers long-overdue relief from the symptoms which have stopped her from leading a normal life. In order to cover the costs, she applies for a mysterious job, and finds herself employed as the 'Emotional Girlfriend' to movie star Kurt Sky. As one of several women employed to meet the needs of the A-lister – alongside a Maternal Girlfriend, Anger Girlfriend and obtusely named 'Intimacy Team' – Mary must offer nurturing and support at scheduled intervals. However, as her feelings develop into something real, their relationship shifts, and leaves Mary questioning the fundamentals of love. The Answers takes a modern look at romance and dissects the honesty of love from a new perspective. Though the basis of the story isn't presented as well as you'd hope, the questions the novel puts forward leave you reeling. An intriguing, if slightly over-cooked, story, perfect for the beach.

Holly McKenzie

NON-FICTION

On Time: Finding Your Pace In A World Addicted To Fast by Catherine Blyth, published in hardback by William Collins

THIS comes from the author of the praised 2009 book The Art of Conversation. "Our world is on fast-forward," she declares, and who could disagree? "Whatever your goal, if you cease to feel like time's slave then everything improves." This is part how-to guide and part philosophical rumination on "how time went crazy". There is some excellent advice – I was taken by "notice where time leaks", such as the "twists and turns in routines", and also by the urging to clear up my "chaotic workstation". But there are so many lists and action points that it becomes a little wearying. Then there are wanderings off the point, such as to Gunther Grass's war service, to Madonna's exercise regime and to the bizarre assertion that mothers staying at home is "creepy". Above all, I was never quite sure whether the author wants us all to slow down or to use time more effectively, which are not the same thing. This is best read with a notebook to hand, in which to jot down the author's better suggestions.

Dan Atkinson