Sally Rooney’s Crypto-Christian Love

Few writers in our time have provoked the hysteria, hype, adoration, and scorn that Irish novelist Sally Rooney has. And her latest, Intermezzo, is a bona fide publishing-world event that seems unlikely to lessen the controversy. It’s Rooney’s longest book to date and abundantly displays her trademark style, which some say is a genius remix of the 19th-century novel and others call souped-up young-adult literature. It’s also Rooney’s weakest work, and though it continues to develop her originality of form and provocative ideas, I’m not sure the provocation is controlled or deliberate. It’s clearer than ever in Intermezzo that the emotional core of the Rooney novels, and the reason they connect so powerfully with readers, is that she has resurrected Christian romantic love for the polyamory generation, even without quite believing in it. As someone who does believe in Christian love, I find the books interesting and worthwhile, but conceptually muddled.