I've read all of Sally Rooney's novels and I've enjoyed all of them. Yes her characters are pretentious and can be unlikeable but I still found them to be realistic esoecially Rooney's descriptions of feelings/emotions.

There's a particular scene in Conversations with Friends where the protagonist is on stage and she senses the love interest in the crowd and describes the effort it takes not to look at him - this is me when I have a crush!

I'm also Irish and living in Dublin so being familiar with the places described also adds to my enjoyment.

I've read all 3 of her books and I appreciate the fact she tried something new with this book in terms of style. I actually loved the Eileen/Simon story and the scene of them at the wedding remains once of my fave scenes ever written. I didn't like Alice/Felix at all. Have you listened to her character playlists on Spotify? The ones for this book are particularly good.