Millennial Sensation
Sally Rooney is one of best 20-something writers in the world
AT 28, IRISH author Sally Rooney has been hailed at the voice of her generation. But you may initially struggle to see that from the flat titles and first few pages of her two novels. Conversation With Friends, her debut novel from 2017, begins with the following nondescript line: ''Bobbi and I first met Melissa at a poetry night in town, where we were performing together.'' Her second novel Normal People, published last year, begins even more simply: ''Marianne answers the door when Cornell rings the bell.''
But once you've passed the first few pages, you find yourself moving easily to the second, third and fourth chapters. Before you know it, you've come to know her characters extremely well and you wonder what they'll do next.
By the time you've polished off both novels, you're hungry for her next work - only to be crushed reading an interview published in the Irish Independent where Rooney says almost dismissively: ''I have no idea if I'll write another book... Maybe I am one of those people who writes two novels in their 20s then never writes anything else again.''
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Lifestyle
Former Zouk morphs into mod-Asian Jiak Kim House, serving laksa pasta and mushroom bak kut teh
Massimo Bottura lends star power to pizza and pasta at Torno Subito
Victor Liong pairs Aussie and Asian food with mixed results at Artyzen’s Quenino restaurant
If Jay Chou likes Ju Xing’s zi char, you might too
Mod-Sin cooking izakaya style at Focal
What the fish? Diving for flavour at Fysh – Aussie chef Josh Niland’s Singapore debut