Alas, since the characters in these novels are not really alive, not fully human, their connectedness can only be insisted on. Indeed, the reader begins to think that it is being insisted on precisely because they do not really exist. Life is never experienced with such a fervid intensity of connectedness. After all, hell is other people, actually: real humans disaggregate more often than they congregate.
I can't ever imagine someone saying this or asserting this feeling in a post-covid time.
It seems white women turn celebrity women of color into surrogate philosophes, while famous white women get to brag about how clueless and messy they are.
Rather than acknowledging a double standard, they seem in awe of the demonstrated competence and tenacity of women of color.
He announced that the F.D.A. would ban many kinds of flavored e-cigarettes, which are especially popular with teens, and would restrict the retail outlets where e-cigarettes were available.
Commissioner of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, issued this in response to observing data on the astronomically high adoption rate of e-cigarettes by teenagers.
Since e-cigarettes are as much as ninety-five per cent less harmful than regular cigarettes, the committee argued, why not promote them?
Was there proof of this? Were there longitudinal studies? Now we have emergent research detailing the incidence of lung diseases among vapists.
Is this the reason, Berenson wonders, for the rising incidence of schizophrenia in the developed world, where cannabis use has also increased?
This seems like far too loose of a connection to make.
As the National Academy panel declared, in one of its few unequivocal conclusions, “Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.”
Is this true? Is there really a causal link? Do genetic factors not play any sort of a role?
“Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence.”
What was the reaction, if any, to this book?
There is salvation, Rooney seems to be saying, in giving oneself over completely to another person. She is positing a world in which we might stop apologizing for apologizing, in which we might seek compromise and see vulnerability as a form of courage. We might stop protecting ourselves. We might love with bleeding, imperfect hearts.
The relationships that are peddled in both novels are not ones borne out of honesty, respect, or genuine care for one another. The conclusion of this article is conflating sexual chemistry and fleeting kindness as with love. The bonds worth sustaining are those that make us grow and in short, feel good about ourselves. I'd argue that losing yourself to someone isn't love but loss.
And Rooney makes it clear that the power dynamic of their relationship will never really change, that Connell will always have a power over Marianne, even in moments that might otherwise play as straightforwardly romantic.
And this palpable power imbalance, the fact that Marianne would gladly do anything for Connell and willingly debase herself for him, it's not at all romantic. It's troubling at best and an irresponsible portrayal of what love means at its worst.
Connell wanted to keep their relationship a secret because he was ashamed to be associated with unpopular Marianne
This seems to be a surface level reading of his reasoning for keeping the relationship a secret. His mother was employed by Marianne's. That makes him nervous too. How could he be accepted? How could this possibly be real? How can they fit together?
Connell’s social status is the reason he keeps the relationship a secret
Is that true? I read it as a combination of that but also his deep seated insecurity about the fact that his mom is employed by her family. Their classes are in direct conflict.
The high heat of their friendship will remind many readers of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels—one headstrong, dazzling girl; one watchful, more apparently “normal” one
Wow, I am prophetic, but apparently also "wrong"
Bobbi is the clear star of the pair, beautiful and puckishly charismatic, with a suffer-no-fools bravado
Their relationship reminds me of another literary friendship between two females that has been taking the world by storm over the past several years, that of Lenu and Lila from Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. That relationship is also between two women who are incredibly alike one another - bright, wordy, artsy, opinionated, leftists with a complicated relationship with wealth where they at once denounce it and yearn to surround themselves with it. Yet their temperaments are so unlike. There's also the spirit of an intense rivalry, though simultaneously a deep sense of respect. The two women routinely come together at low points in their lives, prior to the ultimate tragedy unfolding. In the context of Conversations With Friends, the two friends and former romantic partners have an incredibly productive working relationship and a deep sense of familiarity with one another, but they constantly withhold information from each other, try to make the other jealous, and can just as easily show wanton disregard for each other's feelings. The nature of the women in Ferrante's work is a bit different, as they're incredibly expressive Italian women as opposed to one direct, strong willed woman and who is the pinnacle of what I imagine to be British repression. Thus, the competition in this novel is incredibly more subtle, especially since Frances supplies us with a narrative lens.
This exchange
It's eerie how similar this exchange is to several of those that I've had with my peers when we engage online. Stylistically, thoughts are formed in fragments and laid out in quick succession. Punctuation is infrequent, but its absence doesn't signal laziness so much as urgency and authenticity in the delivery. When present, like Bobbi's period at the end of her sentence, punctuation packs a punch. It dictates a tonal shift. Now I'm being serious while before I was giving a freewheeling series of thoughts; this is something that should stick with you. I also love how pseudo intellectual their conversation about love and how Bobbi, true to her character, tries to frame it as the ultimate subversive act. What a powerful message.