By Celia Papavasileiou,
“I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me”. When I read this quote in “Normal People” almost five years ago, I instantly knew that Sally Rooney would become one of my favorite authors. At fifteen years old, I was fascinated by the fact that two people could have such a strong bond that only God would be able to bring to life. This phrase is just a glimpse into the compelling world of Rooney’s writing, an original voice for contemporary fiction.
Sally Rooney was born in 1991, in Ireland, and attended a Roman Catholic High School, influences that are apparent in her books. She took part in a writing group, where she wrote short stories, and completed her first novel at the age of 15. In 2013, she graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a bachelor’s degree in English, followed by a master’s in American Literature. During her studies, she was the number-one competitive debater in Europe at the age of 22. Her publications include the short story “Mr. Salary” (2016) and the novels “Conversations with Friends” (2017), “Normal People” (2018), “Beautiful World, Where Are You” (2021) and “Intermezzo” (2024).
“Normal People” was, later, adapted into a 12-part miniseries as a co-production of BBC Three and Hulu in 2020, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. The series has been nominated and has won many awards, including nominations in the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, and the Golden Globes, and wins in the BAFTA Awards and the Irish Film and Television Awards. “Conversations with Friends” was also made into a 12-part miniseries by BBC Three and Hulu in 2022, starring Alison Oliver, Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn, and Jemina Kirke.
Rooney’s narratives hold a special place in my heart and the hearts of so many others. They provide such an intimate reading experience, examining the nature of human relationships through character-driven plots. Her stories are centered around the themes of love, friendship, and grief in the broader context of the social, political, and economic effects of capitalism in the modern age.
“I find myself consistently drawn to writing about intimacy, and the way we construct one another”, said Rooney during an interview with The New York Times, in 2018. The discovery of one’s self impacted by the relationships around them is a main subject in her novels. “Normal People”, for example, follows two characters in their late teenage years as they try to define not only their relationship but also who they are as individuals. Inspired by her own experiences at Trinity, she explores the aspects of misunderstandings, feelings of jealousy, and sexual desire in those relationships, making her characters authentic and realistic to her audience.
It’s important to note that human relationships wouldn’t be formed as they are now without the material and economic realities that surround them. As Rooney highlighted in an interview for Louisiana Channel, “Observing intimate relationships means also trying to observe the structures that make these relationships possible”. Her novels examine how the characters carry the “transactional framework of capitalism” into their internal worlds and, as a result, in every relationship that is being tackled in her books. Class and gender roles are also important to Rooney when it comes to interpreting the dynamics between her characters. That way, she tries to explain why they act the way that they do, helping the readers understand the impact of those materialistic realities in their own lives as well.
Lastly, religion is undoubtedly a matter of interest for Rooney. The question of the existence of God seems to be an issue that she tries to assess in most of her works. One of the main characters in “Conversation with Friends”, Frances, experiences a shift in her faith as the story goes on. While she wasn’t always religious, at a point in the novel she stumbles across a church and turns to God for help because of the pain she must endure as a symptom of endometriosis. In “Beautiful World, Where Are You”, one of the characters, Simon, is described as a Mass-going Catholic. Nevertheless, his behavior in his personal life tends to not align with the teachings of the Church. Rooney tries to explore what religion means to each of her characters and how Catholicism can be incorporated into modern society.
Sally Rooney is one of the most influential authors of our age, and rightly so. Her novels present simple plots and everyday personalities, making the reading experience easy and enjoyable. Simultaneously, those characters perfectly embody the complexities of the human mind and the intricate relationships that form in our lives. Providing an honest interpretation of the world around us, “must-read books” is the only appropriate characterization of Sally Rooney’s work.
References
- Fleeing Sally Rooney’s god. thecritic.co.uk. Available here
- Greeted as the First Great Millennial Author, and Wary of the Attention. nytimes.com. Available here
- Normal People Awards. imdb. Available here
- Sally Rooney. Britannica. Available here
- Sally Rooney: ‘Falling in love when I was very young transformed my life’. The guardian. Available here
- Sally Rooney: ‘I’m really paranoid about my personal life. I feel self-conscious’. irishtimes.com. Available here
