Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney doesn’t make it easy for herself. She’s already got the obligatory trail of trolls picking ludicrous fights - like the allegation that one of her characters is racist. He is, and he’s picked up on it by another of her characters. Are we now at the point where racism can’t be mentioned? Rooney also uses a translation of an obscure German lyric as her title - “Beautiful World, where are You?” And then, worst of all, one of her characters is a novelist who moans about having to keep picking up awards. Mmm. Must be a real drag, that.

So for jealous writers who are less successful (that’s all writers) Rooney might be irritating, but for readers she remains a delight. I just don’t know any other writer it’s so easy to read - and that’s not because it’s superficial or unadventurous. She does sex and friendship like no-one else, with dialogue that mixes irony and affection that feels to me very much like Jane Austen.

But her characters also do interesting thoughts - on the collapse of civilisation, on plastic, on the state of world politics and - of course - on sex and friendship. With this novel, though, I also notice more moments of thoughtful observation, little epiphanies of description which I don’t remember from the previous two. Having skimmed a couple of hostile reviews, I came to this one prepared to be disappointed, but I’ve loved it.