The adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” is rarely followed. I mean, let’s be real- when you scroll through Libby or Kindle, do you pick an unknown book solely because of its blurb? I know I don’t. Covers that catch my eye get a longer look and more grace if it ends up bad. After all, it has such a nice cover!

Covers often follow patterns. Fantasy books have castles, magic, swords; Mysteries or thrillers will have a chalk outline or a gun; romance books have those overly photoshopped models in sunsets. Not every book follows these rules, but you can typically tell genre based on the cover alone. It’s intentional, it helps with marketing. It can also backfire. 

If you recall my intro to The Fifth Season, I mentioned that I wanted this book list to get me out of my comfort zone. So far, though, I’ve done nothing but dip my toe into the unknown. Ooo, she chose a fantasy/sci-fi series and a collection of essays on a subject she’s passionate about. Really leaping into uncharted waters, huh. (If you can’t tell, I am being sarcastic and lightly bullying myself.) To be fair, they both did have new aspects of literature I hadn’t explored yet, namely the fact that they’re both books from the last ten years and in formats I hadn’t read before. Still, I’ve yet to delve into something completely foreign to me, something where I have zero expectations. That’s where Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends comes in.

Friends and family who know me (and subscribers to the monthly newsletter) may have seen this book a couple of weeks ago and scratched their heads. Based on the cover and the blurb, Conversations is not a book I would choose for myself at all. The cover art reads very “Chick Lit”-y to me, which, while a fine and thriving genre, isn’t my thing. The blurb, which describes two friends getting into a romantic entanglement with an older couple really isn’t my thing. I don’t mind messy characters, mind. Some of my favorite characters are morally gray or bankrupt. This low-stakes infidelity kind of drama, though? Not my cup of tea. 

You’ll notice that I did what so many of us say not to but then do anyway: Judge a book by its cover. I saw the bright colors, the two fashionable white ladies on the front, and the blurb and decided, “Hell no, I’m good.” Everyone does this to some extent. It could be music, movies, video games, whatever. It can restrict us, though. Staying in the same genre of any kind of art can narrow our viewpoint. If you enjoy writing as I do, a narrow viewpoint can harm your creative work. Reading books we’d initially pass on can expand our horizons. It’s not just good for future projects, but for our personal growth. 

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m forcing myself to look past the book’s cover. 

What you find once you look past the cover of Conversations With Friends is the stepping stone to Sally Rooney’s rise to fame. It won her the 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award, among other nominations. Since then, she’s published two more award-winning books, Normal People and Beautiful World, Where Are You, winning the moniker “The First Great Millennial Novelist” from the New York Times. She’s ended up on the New York Times’s Bestseller’s list and more than one of her works shows up on “Best of the Decade” lists floating around the internet. And it’s not only critics singing her praises; normal people gobble them up just as fast (ha, get it? Normal People? Anyway). Reading Rooney is now a trend, complete with mood boards and Spotify playlists.

Obviously, something being popular doesn’t mean it’s good (looking at you 50 Shades of Gray) but the critical consensus matching public opinion swayed me enough to look past my own prejudices. I’d also, in my research, found a few articles about the book that piqued my interest. One mentioned that Rooney is bringing back the epistolary novel, or a novel where the story is told through letters. This has been updated for the present day, meaning sections of the book could be told through e-mail, texts, or even Facebook posts. This is itself admirable as I have read many writers mention that including modern tech in their work feels difficult (too easy for a character to Google something and solve the plot, I guess). The second is that Rooney says she’s attempting to write a Marxist novel. If that made you go “huh?” you’re not alone. What does a Marxist novel even look like and how does it relate to some messy people in messy relationships? I’m sure her debut book won’t hit the mark on whatever criteria Marxist novels might have, but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless. 

This month’s reflection will be a little different, I’m sure. I can’t guarantee a rave review (if Goodreads is any indication, people either love or hate Rooney’s style) but I can promise an honest response. What that will look like is as much a mystery to me as what a Marxist novel is. The mystery is part of the experience, though- I wouldn’t have started this blog if I wasn’t planning on challenging myself! I hope you’ll join me as I leap into the unknown this month and attempt to separate a book from its cover. Happy reading!