But Conversations, based on Rooney’s 2017 debut of the same name, is a less intuitive fit for TV than its predecessor (or successor, if one goes by publication date). That success was enough to earn a series order for Conversations With Friends, another 12-episode co-production between the BBC and Hulu. The TV show, too, achieved breakout success, powered by two star-making performances and an intimacy that countered the isolation of early lockdown.
Perhaps relatedly, the book is Rooney’s most commercially successful to date. Normal People’s protagonists fit this bill, but they also followed a familiar boy-meets-girl archetype, a straightforward vehicle for a complex pair of personalities. Rooney specializes in characters of blazing intellect and inscrutable emotions, even to themselves. This may be why the novel was the first of Sally Rooney’s to receive a screen adaptation, despite coming second on the Irish author’s CV. Though told with nuance and complexity, Normal People is, at its core, a simple story.
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