Published online by Cassandra Voices, 24 September 2021. For Christmas two years ago, my mother bought me a copy of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People(2018). I tried to read it, I really did, but gave up after twenty pages. Looking back now, I can’t remember exactly what it was that turned me off it. I recall saying something along the lines of not liking the dialogue and the way the characters were realised. Looking back, I think I disliked the social pressure exerted on me to read and admire Sally Rooney. You see, as a student in Trinity College Dublin, the figure of Sally Rooney loomed large. Access to campus was restricted while a TV adaptation of her book was filmed. Her novels lined the windows of nearby book shops. Rave reviews appeared everywhere you looked online. She was the voice of the Irish millennial. All of this, rather than encouraging me to embrace her work, raised my hackles and ensured that I would find fault in anything I read by her. After laying Normal Peopl...