The Interview

Sally Rooney Thinks Career Growth Is Overrated

By David Marchese

The arrival on Sept. 24 of Sally Rooney’s new novel, “Intermezzo,” is one of this fall’s biggest publishing events — not only for the legion of devoted readers hungry for new fiction from the 33-year-old Irish author, but also for the literati ready to devour all the takes and think pieces the book is sure to spawn.

Rooney is one of those rare authors who have been able to garner mass readership as well as serious critical attention — I should probably just say attention, full stop. The popular success is, on some level, easy to understand. Her novels, two of which, “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends,” were adapted into buzzy TV series, are precisely observed relationship studies that deftly weave together politics, sex, moral philosophy, dry humor and a distinctly millennial unease with the state of the world. Fans will be happy to know that the same qualities are on display in “Intermezzo,” which centers on two grieving brothers, Peter, a lawyer who’s entangled with a younger lover, and Ivan, a chess prodigy who falls for an older woman.

Any writer who is held up, as Rooney is, as the voice of a generation is sure to be scrutinized. But the amount and intensity of both the praise and the criticism of her output can feel a little outsize, a little confusing — including to Rooney, who, as she suggested over the course of two long conversations in July, would much rather let her work speak for itself. Read the full interview at the New York Times.