Two 21-year-old women who do poetry readings, Frances and
Bobbi, meet Melissa, a photographer, and her husband Nick, a very handsome but
not particularly famous actor. The novel
seldom diverges from interactions among these four people, except for the inner
thoughts of Frances, the first-person narrator.
Frances and Bobbi were lovers at one time, but now they are just very
good friends. Frances develops a crush
on Nick, who is twelve years older than Frances, which blossoms into her first
sexual relationship with a man. Her
guilt is assuaged by the fact that Nick and Melissa no longer share a bed and
don’t seem to have a very close marriage.
Although Nick and Frances communicate regularly online and in person,
neither is able to express their feelings about the relationship, partly
because neither seems to have a clue about what their feelings are. Frances tries to shield herself from becoming
too attached to Nick by making flippant and sometimes hurtful remarks to
him. I just wanted these two to start
being honest with each other for a change and for Frances to stop vacillating
about whether she cares about Nick or not.
Obviously, Nick is equally to blame, since he never feels secure in
their relationship and is ambivalent about his marriage. Frances also chooses not to open up to Nick
or Bobbi when health and money issues arise.
These side plots don’t really distract from the main issue at hand, but,
of course, plot is not a high priority in any of Sally Rooney’s novels. Still, she somehow holds the reader’s
attention with characters who don’t seem to be able to make up their
minds.
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