Carleton Reviews: Conversations with Friends: Mental health, polyamory and friendship

Trigger Warning: alcoholism and depression are mentioned in this article.

Sallys Rooney’s second book, Conversations With Friends, has recently been released as a TV show on Prime Video. 

The book follows two university students and the relationships they form with an older couple. Mental health and polyamory are the main themes. 

“The feeling of loneliness is portrayed really well in both,” said Valerie Stiles Beale, a first-year student at Algonquin College. “The moments of silence in the TV show really define it.”

Frances, the main character of the book, suffers from depression and isolates herself from others when struggling with her mental health. 

“It’s always easier to see how a character is struggling in a book because of the writing,” said Stiles Beale. “It’s harder in a TV show because they have to really find a way for you to feel it.”

Topics of alcoholism are relevant in the book and TV show as Frances’ father suffers from this. During her fall semester at university, her father calls her drunkenly which puts her into a depressive episode. 

Within the book, her father’s alcoholism plays a much more significant part as it affects her finances. During the TV show, it is shown in a few episodes but it is not as impactful. 

“During the TV show, Frances struggles a lot with expressing herself emotionally,” said Emily MacArthur, a second-year student at Carleton University. “They did a really good way of portraying this through visuals since it can be hard to express through conversation.”

The aesthetics of the TV show reflect the book, with low lighting and darker colours. There are lots of scenes with rain, overcast and low-lit rooms. 

“It was interesting to see how they portrayed the relationship between Frances and Bobbi [her best friend] with Nick and Melissa [the older couple],” said MacArthur. “This was the part they did the best in connecting the book to the TV show. A lot of the scenes were played out exactly as they were in the book.”

Within Conversations With Friends, Frances has an affair with Nick. This is the main event within the book as it shapes Frances relationships and has a severe effect on her mental health. 

Frances and Bobbi’s relationship suffers from the relationship as they previously had dated and then later became friends. 

“I really like that they kept the elements of how their friendship suffers from the relationship,” said Stiles Beale. “A lot of friends go through this, so it’s nice to be able to connect with the characters through this.”

The TV show and book share many similarities, especially the main themes. 

Conversations With Friends challenges societal norms and depicts the loneliness of being in your 20s. 

• books
• college