A very short but impactful read, and my first experience with Sally Rooney’s writing that has left me interested in cracking open my untouched copy of Normal People.
Across its short span of less than fifty pages, Mr Salary details the complex and sexually tense relationship between twenty-four-year-old Sukie and her significantly older — as well as very wealthy — uncle-in-law, Nathan.
Despite the lesser length of this short story, it manages to be very punchy and poignant, perhaps even more than some full-length novels. Through the narration and lesser occurrences of dialogue, Rooney is able to capture the mixture of attraction, nervousness, and self-repression in Sukie and Nathan’s relationship. It is an awkward tension that has existed since she moved in with him during her university days, and has now flared up again when she returns to Dublin to visit her dying father.
Therefore, it is clear that Mr Salary is very good at implying without telling, because the aforementioned tension and uncertain intimacy between the taboo pair is present in almost every conversation they have. It basically permeates any scene the two share.
Sukie, disinterested in her life back in Boston and estranged from the rest of her surviving family tree, effectively latches to Nathan. It’s a love built out of both desperation and longevity, which is a very hard to capture thing, but Rooney does a solid job at it.
Naturally, an Irish author also has a good sense of wit and morbid humour, which is distilled throughout Sukie’s narration, alongside Nathan’s glib and sarcastic attitude. These more casual elements mix well with the feelings of desperation and uncertainty around the two characters who try to play off their attraction to each other, until they concede…
Recommending Mr Salary is a hard thing to do, but not because of how it is written. It is an excellent short story that absorbs you for around forty-five minutes, making you almost disappointed that it ends, but it also saves itself from dragging on by doing so. The real issue with recommending a standalone Faber Stories publication like this is one thing: length.
If you are prepared to pay around £4.99 for an hour or less of reading, then definitely give Mr Salary a chance. You won’t have much luck finding it for cheaper, unless you use Kindle Unlimited or borrow it from a library. However, since I doubt many libraries will have it (and since it doesn’t decrease much in second-hand markets), you will basically have to pay close to RRP if you want a physical print.
Still, if you can get a chance to read it, I strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to experience this very direct short story about a taboo and complicated love. I am absolutely going to explore more of Rooney’s work in the near future, and I think you should too.
Leave a Reply