The satisfaction of small pleasures
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A writer who chronicles modern life becomes a part of it? We’re about to find out, now that “the new Sally Rooney” no longer refers to a person, but a book. We may not be quite in the territory of The Testaments or The Mirror and the Light, but Rooney’s third novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, may be the most anticipated novel of the year, after Normal People gave her the sort of extra-literary success that most writers think they’d love to have.
I am, if not a Rooneymaniac, certainly a Rooneyphile, admiring her previous novels for their wit, their bold coolness and the way they give painful new life to writing about relationships. But, as Alice or Eileen in the new book might wonder, what else is there? They, along with Felix and Simon, are two corners of the irregular Irish quadrilateral.
