Like you, I am mystified by the stunning success of Rooney after reading The Normal People. I get the reason of her commercial success (--her fanbase is the same as Taylor Smith's,) still, I don't fully understand the raving literary reviews and her star power. It seems many people have written better books on the similar topics and I've learned nothing new from her novels. Did I enjoy my reading? I can count on a handful occasions that her sentences touched me, but I wouldn't say reading the book was a pleasure. In fact, I grew impatient with the seesawing of the power struggle between the two unlikable characters. I keep asking, are we there yet? To me, her story is so claustrophobic that I struggled to resurface for air.
Since I haven't read the Intermezzo and possible will one day, I skimmed through the part pertaining to that book. Nevertheless, I'm 100% agree with your analysis regarding her writing.
"Rooney’s use of language was not new, not beautiful, and not even economical. Though Austen paints miniatures and Joyce vast canvases, both novelists maintain careful control over their respective universes—not a word is present but that it does not have a place in the larger cosmos of things. Rooney did not give me this impression."
Here is a question begs to be asked: Is anyone going to read Rooney one hundred years from now?
It's so nice to know that someone else felt similarly about Normal People—I kept wondering if there was something I was missing. I definitely agree with you about feeling impatient with the characters' seesawing and the sense of claustrophobia, especially because the other characters and the main characters' relationships with them seemed not as fully fleshed out. I did think that Intermezzo was better when it came to these aspects—it's about two brothers who for most of the novel live sort of separate lives, and there's a focus on themes other than romance (even if there is lots of romance), so it feels like there's more room to breathe, and I found it more moving overall. Thank you so much for reading and for sharing your thoughts, Catherine!
Great analysis Ramya. You make me read this novel! I will.
aw thank you!
Well done, Ramya!
Like you, I am mystified by the stunning success of Rooney after reading The Normal People. I get the reason of her commercial success (--her fanbase is the same as Taylor Smith's,) still, I don't fully understand the raving literary reviews and her star power. It seems many people have written better books on the similar topics and I've learned nothing new from her novels. Did I enjoy my reading? I can count on a handful occasions that her sentences touched me, but I wouldn't say reading the book was a pleasure. In fact, I grew impatient with the seesawing of the power struggle between the two unlikable characters. I keep asking, are we there yet? To me, her story is so claustrophobic that I struggled to resurface for air.
Since I haven't read the Intermezzo and possible will one day, I skimmed through the part pertaining to that book. Nevertheless, I'm 100% agree with your analysis regarding her writing.
"Rooney’s use of language was not new, not beautiful, and not even economical. Though Austen paints miniatures and Joyce vast canvases, both novelists maintain careful control over their respective universes—not a word is present but that it does not have a place in the larger cosmos of things. Rooney did not give me this impression."
Here is a question begs to be asked: Is anyone going to read Rooney one hundred years from now?
Thanks for voice your possibly unpopular opinion!
Catherine
It's so nice to know that someone else felt similarly about Normal People—I kept wondering if there was something I was missing. I definitely agree with you about feeling impatient with the characters' seesawing and the sense of claustrophobia, especially because the other characters and the main characters' relationships with them seemed not as fully fleshed out. I did think that Intermezzo was better when it came to these aspects—it's about two brothers who for most of the novel live sort of separate lives, and there's a focus on themes other than romance (even if there is lots of romance), so it feels like there's more room to breathe, and I found it more moving overall. Thank you so much for reading and for sharing your thoughts, Catherine!