Topics of Conversation Book Summary

In 'Topics of Conversation,' Miranda Popkey weaves a tapestry of intimate female voices, exploring the complex nature of relationships, identity, and the conversations that define us. Through a series of poignant and candid dialogues, the protagonist confronts the intricacies of love, loss, and the weight of personal history. Each chapter brings forth new revelations, forcing her to examine her own perceptions and the silences that linger beneath the surface. This thought-provoking narrative invites readers to reflect on their own experiences and the conversations that shape their lives. Will you dare to delve into the unspoken truths that bind us all?

By Miranda Popkey

Published: 2020

"In the silence that followed our laughter, I realized that every conversation we have is a thread woven into the tapestry of our lives, binding us to each other and to the truths we cannot fully articulate."

Book Review of Topics of Conversation

A compact tour de force about sex, violence, and self-loathing from a ferociously talented new voice in fiction, perfect for fans of Sally Rooney, Rachel Cusk, Lydia Davis, and Jenny Offill. “Shrewd and sensual, Popkey's debut carries the scintillating charge of a long-overdue girls' night." —O, The Oprah Magazine A Best Book of the Year by TIME, Esquire, Real Simple, Marie Claire, Glamor, Bustle, and more Composed almost exclusively of conversations between women—the stories they tell each other, and the stories they tell themselves—Topics of Conversation careens through twenty years in the life of an unnamed narrator hungry for experience and bent on upending her life. In exchanges about shame and love, infidelity and self-sabotage, Popkey touches upon desire, disgust, motherhood, loneliness, art, pain, feminism, anger, envy, and guilt. Edgy, wry, and written in language that sizzles with intelligence and eroticism, this novel introduces an audacious and immensely gifted new novelist.

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In the silence that followed our laughter, I realized that every conversation we have is a thread woven into the tapestry of our lives, binding us to each other and to the truths we cannot fully articulate.

Topics of Conversation

By Miranda Popkey