Issue 83: Happy Sally Rooney Week to all who celebrate
An unexpected post because the Hype Machine is working
I really enjoy Sally Rooney’s books but I am not a FAN.
What I like:
Getting so close to the minds and hearts of her characters. The ULTIMATE novelistic experience. Love them or hate them, you know what these people are like.
Fantastic (even if a bit vanilla) sex writing.
A capture of the spirit of youth that I identify with - the brooding, the situationships, the really intense female friendships.
Dublin, Ireland, Italian vacations.
Rooney willing to speak up about the war in Gaza, the choice of having or not having children and its impact on climate change, the right to abortion.
What I don’t like:
A very Eastern European take on this, but → why is everybody in this universe so god-damn special? 🫣
Why is everybody having such good sex all the time, out of nowhere?
Why is everybody getting basically exactly what they want?
Rooney considers herself a Marxist - life under late-stage Capitalism a constant theme in her work - but… she strikes me as the kind of Marxist who will switch out all her beauty products for cleaner versions or maybe bring her own BAGGU to the grocery store… abject poverty and class inequality is more of a bar-time discussion for them, even the “poorest” of her characters end up in MFA programs.
Here’s Becca Rothfeld at The Point:
If you are a writer in a Rooney novel, you are sure to be discovered without going to any great lengths to promote yourself. You are sure to write beautifully without agonizing over your work (or even editing it). And if you are a woman in a Rooney novel, you will only ever become disheveled in a glamorous way. You might be too thin or too aloof, but you will never be too emotional or, God forbid, overweight. Ultimately, there is no chance that literary institutions will fail to appreciate your gifts, no chance that the market will fail to reward your talents and no chance at all that you are not, deep down, very special.
Basically.
And, for a writer who complains about all the attention she gets and insists she has a normal life and wants her books to be taken on their own merit, I am not sure how she justifies the INSANE hype-campaign that had people begging for ARCs - 600+ reviews on Goodreads already. Let me remind you, the book is not even out yet. I like those chessboard bandanas that everybody got in their publicity package but as someone who is toiling over a first novel, I have to wonder - couldn’t some of that budget been re-routed to promote the work of debut novelists? Let another Rooney find her audience? But maybe this is naive. Maybe it’s great for this novel to sell BIG and make a whole bunch of $$$ for FSG and THAT would fund the discovery of the next Rooney? What would a good Marxist do?!
Some good things about all of the above from all over the internet:
Becca Rothfeld - The Point - Normal Novels
Kathleen Schmidt - Why ARCs as status symbols are bad for business
The New Yorker Podcast - Critics at Large - Sally Rooney’s beautiful deceptions
The New York Times - Sally Rooney Thinks Career Growth Is Overrated
The Guardian - Sally Rooney Intermezzo Interview
via Ochuko - Esquire - Are You Cool Enough for the Latest Sally Rooney Novel?
Naturally, I have pre-ordered the book TWICE - once from an indie bookseller and once, in a panic, from Amazon because I know they will probably get it to me faster.
A question for you?
How is all of this making you feel? 😂
The way I will be at my neighborhood bookstore upon open tomorrow to snag Intermezzo.
OK, total confession time, as we are now friends, Petya....I am not a fan. In fact, I don't enjoy her books at all. I read the first one, tried the second one and gave up. So this is one hype I am happy to watch from the sidelines!!