Book Review: Normal People

As I started to read this book, I didn’t know what to expect. I was only looking for something easy to read during my free time. To be honest, I am currently in one of those phases in life when my patience and attention span don’t last very long. Therefore, I wasn’t sure if I would abandon the book within the first chapter, thinking it might be just another silly millennial love story with nothing new, or if I would find it interesting enough to make it to the end.

But the truth is, although I cried from time to time while reading it — I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised! I find Normal People a simple book, even raw, you could say, about the complexity of authentic human relationships. I like that it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Sally Rooney has this magical ability to make the mundane moments in a relationship feel so vivid and powerful.

About the author

Sally Rooney is an Irish writer, who was born and raised in County Mayo. She bounced around Dublin for her studies in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin, earning a scholar badge in 2011. She started with politics but switched gears, grabbing an MA in American lit in 2013. She’s rocking the literary world, even making it to Time’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2022.

She started her writing journey with two poems in The Stinging Fly magazine during her school days. Then, an essay about her debating days caught the eye of a literary agent, Tracy Bohan, who set her on the path to publishing. Her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, was published before Normal People. After that, she wrote a third one: Beautiful World, Where Are You.

Main characters

Connell is the brooding intellectual, while Marianne is the aloof, not-quite-socially-accepted genius. You’ll go back and forth between wanting to shake them and wrapping them in a warm, comforting hug.

The way they communicate — or rather, fail to communicate — is a masterpiece in the art of misinterpretation. Therefore, this is constantly reflected in how the characters feel: confused.

The book is all about diving into social classes, power plays, and the delicate art of human bonding. Rooney makes you crawl inside her characters’ brains and really get where they’re coming from. Connell and Marianne’s rollercoaster romance is like the heart and soul of this gig, and it changes up in a way that’s totally real and, yeah, sometimes it’ll rip your heart out.

Interesting fact

Normal People came to life from Rooney’s exploration of the history between the two main characters of her short story At the Clinic. But that’s not all — the story also hit the screen as a 12-episode series. It’s a series that I still owe to myself, and I have it on my ‘To watch soon’ list.

What makes these “normal people” special is that they’re all about catching those moments of being vulnerable and growing as individuals. While these characters are juggling their own mess of lives and relationships, Rooney paints this picture of young adult life that’s so relatable, because she’s speaking to an entire generation.

The catch is as simple and hard to achieve as a writer as that: it’s relatable. As you read, you’ll nod your head and think, “Yep, been there, done that.” Rooney takes that awkwardness in tense conversations and turns it into a symphony of misunderstandings.

To conclude, this book is captivating, deeply introspective, like a mirror reflecting back the messy, beautiful, and frustrating aspects of post-modern relationships. Sally Rooney has taken the chaos of contemporary love and turned it into a bittersweet literary delight. Highly recommended.