“Mr Salary” by Sally Rooney

I guess I knew this was only a short story when I bought it, but I was surprised when it arrived by how tiny it is. It’s hardly bigger than my hand, and more of a pamphlet than a book. But I moved on from the slight initial disappointment as one does when one can’t get enough of Sally Rooney. 

I started reading yesterday evening during a small gap in our schedule; I spent maybe five or ten minutes with it, and I was sucked in from the very first paragraph. I picked it up again at breakfast and had another small shock when I turned page 33 and saw the remaining pages were blank. How could it be over already??

This could have been a full-length novel, and it would have been just as great as Rooney’s others. But even in this tiny format, it’s a good read. It’s really amazing that in only a few dozen pages Rooney was able to develop the characters of Sukie and Nathan, and juxtapose them in a compelling relationship. It’s like magic.