Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist who took the literary scene by storm with her debut novel, Conversations with Friends. Her second novel, Normal People, had massive international success thanks to the phenomenon that was the subsequent BBC/Hulu television adaptation starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Her third book was Beautiful World, Where Are You, reviewed by our deputy editor, Cal Flyn, below.
Books by Sally Rooney
“I loved how she used the blueprint of the love triangle – two young gay women get emotionally, and sexually, embroiled with an older, more urbane couple in Dublin – in a way that made it seem fresh and unexpected. Nothing feels clichéd or familiar. She is so strong on dialogue and there is something both youthful and deeply mature in her writing. It’s really exhilarating to read a debut that’s so good.” Read more...
If you’ve somehow made it this far without reading Rooney’s previous novel – her rollicking, quick-smart debut Conversations With Friends – then we suggest you correct this immediately. It follows performance poets and Trinity College students Frances and Bobbi as they fall in with (and fall for) an older married couple, Nick and Melissa. It’s full of snappy dialogue and searching questions about what love, jealousy and infidelity might mean, in a non-monogamous, non-heteronormative world. Full of snappy dialogue and earnest debate, it’s as much a portrayal of obsessive friendship as a two-headed love story, and it cleverly subverts many of the tropes of the romantic comedy without losing their appeal. (Also available – and highly recommended – is Rooney’s short Mr Salary, shortlisted for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and published as a mini paperback by Faber.)
From our article Books like Normal People
Normal People: A Novel
by Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney took the literary world by storm with her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, and shows no signs of having grappled with the difficult second novel syndrome: Normal People is a triumph. It follows two Irish teenagers: Marianne, a bookish outsider, and Connell, who is popular and sporty, as they leave their hometown to attend Trinity College, Dublin, where they find their social standings flipped. Marianne, who comes from a wealthy background, thrives in the new environment, while Connell struggles to find a toehold. But even as they drift apart, a combination of magnetic attraction (“She was attuned to the presence of his body in a microscopic way, as if the ordinary motion of his breathing was powerful enough to make her ill”) and shared history draws them back together.
Normal People makes for compulsive reading, and shares Conversations with Friends' snappy dialogue. But this is a much darker book, which dwells on how dysfunctional and selfish behaviour can reverberate through others' lives. It's most powerful when it dwells upon how we can – with others' help – begin to piece ourselves back together after trauma or tragedy.
“Whatever you call it—autumn or fall—this season’s releases will inevitably be dominated by news of the release of Sally Rooney’s third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You. It follows two erudite young Dubliners navigating their late twenties, one a fabulously successful novelist and the other an editorial assistant at a literary magazine. Rooney’s writing, being full of intellectual debate, humour and emotionally fraught sex, has previously met rapturous critical and popular responses.” Read more...
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
Interviews where books by Sally Rooney were recommended
Notable Novels of Fall 2021, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable novels that need to be on your literary radar in Fall 2021, including the hotly anticipated new book from Sally Rooney—set to dominate bestseller lists in the coming weeks—as well as eagerly awaited follow-ups from Richard Osman and Elizabeth Strout, and a return to more traditional fiction from Karl Ove Knausgård.
The Best Novels of 2017, selected by Arifa Akbar
Has 2017 been a strong year for novels? Yes, says Arifa Akbar, Editor of new literary magazine Boundless – especially if you like your novels fresh and raw
