Scan barcode
A review by shrutislibrary
Two Stories by Sally Rooney
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I gather that Sally Rooney is a hit or miss author for many people. Some people love her work and some love to hate her characters. I find that I am poised tantalisingly(to put it her way) in the middle of this spectrum. My experience with Sally Rooney has been one of utter bafflement because I never seem to make up my mind about her. Last summer I read 'Normal People' which I gave a generous three stars. I understood the appeal of the book and the discussions it provoked but again I couldn't begin to care for any of the characters. Maybe I will re-read the book this summer and finally finish watching the series and re-evaluate my feelings for the book. And do I intend to read 'Conversations with Friends' as well before the series comes out.
'Two Stories' is an anthology of, well, two stories 'Mr. Salary' (published in a slim Faber and Faber volume, 2016) and 'Colour and Light' (published in The New Yorker, 2019).
I listened to the audiobook this morning to have a quick read. 'Colour and Light' is available on The New Yorker's website with the author herself narrating the story.
'Mr. Salary' begins at the Dublin Airport, where Sukie, a 24 year old grad student returning 'home' from Boston is being picked up by her kinda sugar daddy, Nathan, the titular Mr Salary. The story focuses on their relationship, the complicated and long past they share with snippets of flashbacks to Sukie's family background. Nathan, a 40 year old techie and related to Sukie's family, offers to house and 'adopt' Suki when she begins college on a debt. From there on, what started as a temporary co-dependent arrangement dragged into a 'three-year-long-thing-without-a-name' . An interaction occurs, one that sparks Sukie to see her life for truly what it is - a hollow space she inhabits, without a sense of purpose and direction. She feels estranged from her own life, living in the corners and shadows, not knowing where she'll go.
'Colour and Light', her most recently published story follows the strange interactions between two characters, Aidan, a country boy working at a local hotel in an Irish village by the coast and a woman he sees in his brother, Declan's car one day. What follows is several weeks of snatched conversations and buildup of tension between Aidan and Pauline, the woman he sees outwardly like people around her see her as : a somewhat vaguely successful(it's not revealed explicitly if she is or isn't) screenwriter in this rundown part of Ireland, minding her business. Meanwhile Aidan doesn't know the nature of the relationship between Pauline and his brother, who she refers to as a 'car friend'. Are they lovers? Friends? Passing acquaintances? Pauline is a figure coloured in mystery. These questions are never answered in a truly Sally Rooney fashion.
I think I need some time and another listen to process the ending of both these stories because Rooney is notoriously good at open and abrupt, unresolved endings between her characters. I don't think I have deciphered yet what the meaning is behind the stories but the quote I have added above resonates with me a lot and has made me ponder. Rooney is cunningly skilled at making you self-introspect and forcing you to put yourself in the shoes of her characters, whom you might find to be utterly intolerable or unlikeable but their actions spark a fire of reflection within yourself - are you really all that better or different than them? Would you have acted differently if you found yourself in these precariously muddy situations such as the characters? I am still figuring that one out for myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer