Normal People by Sally Rooney
Spoiler-Free Synopsis:
Normal People follows the complex lives and relationship of Connell and Marianne as they progress through high school and college. It provides readers with intense levels of interiority as both characters face internal and external challenges reflective of normal young people in the 21st century. Its plot is frustrating and lengthy, but the writing itself is incredibly engaging and entertaining.
Spoiler-Free Review:
Such a happy surprise! I put off reading this book for a bit because I heard mixed reviews and I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of Emily Henry or other slow-burn, calm-natured novels that I unknowingly placed this in the same category of. This book was chosen for a book club, however, so I gave in. Having recently finished, I realize that I incorrectly assumed the nature of this book. While yes, Normal People outlines events, interactions, and emotions reminiscent of true life, it does so in a way that is raw and reflective. Never once did I find myself bored.
When I began reading, I was honestly off-put by the lack of quotation marks, but after a few chapters I found myself forgetting this was ever an issue. Unlike Mrs. Dalloway which hurt my head.
Marianne and Connell were equally intricately built characters, and it is nearly impossible for me to choose who I liked more. Both of them made grave mistakes and both of them hurt the other. This is a large part of what moved me so much while I was reading. Not a single character was perfect by any means. The title was incredibly accurate in expressing how real and normal these characters were. It is just this character disposition that makes the book so compelling.
I give it 4 stars, only because 5s are saved for the ultimate best of the best of the best. I would definitely recommend it!
Tabbed Quotes:
“This ‘what?’ question seems to him to contain so much: not just the forensic attentiveness to his silences that allows her to ask in the first place, but a desire for total communication, a sense that anything unsaid is an unwelcome interruption between them” (26)
