Sally Rooney teaches us millennials should be written about, not ridiculed | Sian Cain

Normal People makes being young a drama of universal significance – and, for a millennial such as me, rings entirely true

“The first great millennial author,” rave reviews have dubbed Sally Rooney, one of five millennials on this year’s Man Booker longlist, who, in just two books, has also earned the monikers “Salinger for the Snapchat generation” and “Jane Austen of the precariat”. Rooney herself describes her books as “just a bunch of fake people in a room talking to each other” – but Normal People, her second book, is far more than that.

The critics praising Normal People in the national media right now are, for the most part, well outside the millennials’ bracket (by most definitions, aged between their early 20s and late 30s). Not that youth is a prerequisite for enjoyment – Rooney’s gift for interiority is undeniable, no matter your age – but being the same age as her, I emerged from Normal People feeling utterly unnerved by the accuracy of Marianne and Connell, her young, will-they-won’t-they protagonists. After years of seeing myself reflected only in think-pieces, blamed for variously destroying diamonds, napkins, marriage, sex and mayonnaise, it’s wonderful to see my generation preserved in literature as something worth writing about.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2wDoo0A