I normally write about new books but I picked up the audiobook of Sally Rooney’s third novel and I’m glad that I did. Although the novel was praised to the rooftops by the critics, ‘best writer of her generation’ and so on, it was not universally acclaimed by those who loved Normal People.

Based on 25,000 Amazon reviews, the book has thus far scored an average of 3.8 out of 5 with 35% of the readers giving it three stars or less. The emails were too long, the punctuation was weird, nothing much happened and the characters were unlikeable. It was suddenly all a bit pretentious!

So, what happened? Well, this is certainly a completely different book and the shock must have been too much for a lot of people but it is actually an extraordinary achievement. The book tells the story of a lifelong friendship between two women, Alice and Eileen, and their emerging relationships with two men, Simon and Felix. The story is partly told through lengthy emails between Alice and Eileen and partly through a sparse description of events. Sally Rooney has gone out of her way to say that Alice is not her but the choice of the name is interesting and, maybe, this is Sally Through the Looking-Glass!

Alice is a successful novelist and takes the opportunity in the book to berate the intrusiveness of critics and the objectifications of her work, while delivering polemics on politics, relationships and the world. It’s good stuff! Alice knows she has been an enormous success almost by accident while Eileen has struggled to find herself. Simon is mature, sensible and religious while Felix is sharp-witted but uneducated. It’s an interesting mix especially given Sally Rooney’s ear for conversation.

Things move slowly between the couples as their relationships unfold. Sally Rooney demonstrates in all of her books the inability of people to know themselves and what they want, and the impossibility of being able to express this to other people – even those who are very close to them. There are a number of ups and downs and it is interesting how Felix, less immersed in culture and manners, often sees the wood for the trees even if the truth, which others are inclined to circle round, can be hurtful.

In the end, everything is resolved and the conclusion is possibly even a little trite as Sally Rooney gives us, maybe a little grudgingly, a happy ending!

It’s a great novel. You can tell she’s read James Joyce and the multiple levels within the story allow her to explore some favourite themes in great depth. She also has a stunning eye for detail which is almost cinemalike and at times she likes to simply say what people are doing and let the reader ascribe meaning to the interaction. It’s a real skill and this is an outstanding novel.