Mr Salary – Sally Rooney Review

Mr Salary is a short story by critically acclaimed author, Sally Rooney. I loved her book Conversations with Friends and I’ve written a review of the book Normal People too. I’m a huge fan of Sally Rooney. When I was scanning Amazon and realised I had not read Mr Salary, I knew I had to pick it up as well.

At just 48 pages, it’s hardly a huge slog. I think I read it in a little over half-an-hour. It costs £3.50, so more than a magazine. It’s not great value to be honest. It’s the only thing I was let down by. I can’t see huge fans of Sally Rooney’s other books being put off by the price, but I was a little bit.

It actually reads similarly to Conversations with Friends, in fact it could have been a prelude to it. Mr Salary has the same premise in that a young woman falls for an older guy who is supposedly out of reach. In Mr Salary it is a twenty-year-old woman who falls for a thirty-something year old man.

Mr Salary – Sally Rooney: My Verdict

It follows the story of Sukie, and her “relationship” with Nathan. He took her in when her mum died and she had nowhere else to go. Now she is dealing with her father’s decline in health and navigating her feelings towards him. Although Nathan and Sukie are not in a romantic relationship, you definitely sense something is simmering between them – although at times Nathan holds back. The book is not long enough to explore the complexities of their relationship, but the dialogue between them, and between Sukie and her father, is interesting and gritty.

I think Sally captures human reactions perfectly. You know when you are having a tough time and your emotions seem totally all over the place. You do things you wouldn’t usually do put under lots of pressure, that’s what it feels like Sukie does. One of Sally’s great strengths is her ability to create complex characters who are believable and situations you could have found yourself in.

I really enjoyed Mr Salary and I think if you’re a massive fan of Sally Rooney it’s likely you’d enjoy it too. If you’re just dipping your toes into the water, I’d recommend Conversations with Friends or Normal People first.

Have you ever read Mr Salary By Sally Rooney, or anything else by her?