Book review, full book summary and synopsis for Normal People by Sally Rooney, a modern will-they-or-won't-they romance.
Synopsis
In Normal People, Connell and Marianne are schoolmates who pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers—one they are determined to conceal.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron are teenagers living in Ireland. Marianne is smart and wealthy, but unpopular. Meanwhile, Connell is attractive and popular, but of a lower socio-economic status. Connell's mother, Lorraine, is a cleaner who works for Marianne's family. Marianne and Connell are friendly, but don't really talk in school. They secretly start hooking up. Marianne confides in Connell about how her father was abusive to her mother, and her brother still is a bully towards her. However, Connell's friends tease him when he's nice to Marianne. He gets embarrassed and asks another girl to a dance. Marianne stops going to school apart from sitting for her exams.
Marianne and Connell eventually both end up at Trinity College. Marianne dates a popular guy, and her friends look down on Connell because he's lower class. Later, she and Connell begin a casual relationship, but Connell dumps her before summer starts because he's too embarrassed to admit he can't afford to stay on campus over the summer. Marianne begins dating a guy, Jamie. She asks him to hit her in bed and he enjoys it. Connell begins dating Helen and tells Marianne that he loves Helen. That summer, Connell and Marianne travel with their friends through Europe. Connell tries to kiss Marianne after Jamie acts like a jerk, but she tells him to stop.
By her third year, Marianne is now studying abroad in Sweden and dating Luka, a guy who likes to tie her up and take pictures. But she realizes his feelings for her are false and she dumps him. Meanwhile, Connell is seeing a therapist for depression, and he takes an interest in writing. He publishes a short story. When she gets back from Sweden, Marianne and Connell start seeing each other again. When she asks him to hit her, he refuses. When Marianne's brother hurts her, Connell threatens to kill him if he ever touches her again.
Nine months later, they are still a couple and Connell gets into an MFA program at Cornell. A female friend of Connell's will also be going and Marianne wonders if she's part of the reason he wants to go, though he denies it. Still, she encourages him to go. She knows she'll wait for him, and that even if they don't end up together, he helped her to feel worthy so she'll be okay.
For a more detailed version, see the section-by-section summary of Normal People by Sally Rooney.
As a book lover, I’m very aware there’s a New York-centric bubble of literary types (and wanna-be literary types) that tend to act as an echo chamber for one another. Her previous novel, Conversations with Friends, utterly delighted the trendy literati set (though Amazon and Goodreads readers were less enthused).
But that has nothing to do with the rest of us, who just want to read a good book. So, I dug into Normal People looking to answer a simple question: Is this a good book, or are a bunch of people trying to shove their new fad down our throats?
Normal People is a story set in Ireland about the relationship over time between two people, complicated by their social and socio-economic divisions. Marianne and Connell meet as teenagers in high school. Marianne is bookish, unpopular and wealthy. Meanwhile Connell is a well-liked football player, but his family is of the “wrong” sort.
They’re friends because Connell’s mom works as a cleaner for Marianne’s house. When Marianne admits her feelings for Connell, they begin hooking up secretly. The novel then follows Marianne and Connell’s “will-they-or-won’t-they?” relationship across the next five years.
Book Review: the Stylistic Stuff
Marianne and Connell’s romance is reminiscent of an angst-y version of One Day by David Nicholls. Or maybe a sullen Pride and Prejudice, if Mr. Darcy kicked off his relationship with Elizabeth Bennet by using her for sex and Lizzie had a taste for sadomasochism.
Rooney borrows some chick flick tropes and places it into a format that appears pointedly intellectual. She writes with a cool, sparse detachment, highlighting the alienation and social divisions of the characters.
In Normal People, there are no quotation marks (Rooney doesn’t “understand the function they perform in a novel“), commas are frequently dropped, and run-on sentences fly by freely. There’s many instances here where it makes sense, but there are about a few hundred more where I wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier to read with some more punctuation.
Book Review: the Substantive Issues
The short version of this is that this book didn’t really resonate with me. In the beginning, it seems kind of like an intellectual version of a chick lit novel which was fine, but as it drags on, it lost me. It focuses too much on superficial concerns, and it seems to have a lack of self-awareness about its inner contradictions.
Rooney herself describes her books as “stories about fake people.” She writes about urban, educated, young people who have fancy dinner parties and drink wine while talking about social justice. But while the book sneers at the phonies all around, it doesn’t seem to recognize its own detached sense of smug superiority.
Its cast of secondary characters is comprised mainly of straw-men – two-dimensional, terrible people. Our main characters, Marianne and Connell are both wracked with insecurity, but convinced that they’re better than the rest of these awful, basic bitches. The novel strokes the egos of its readers because we’re “in” on the joke, looking down at everyone else with them.
Also, of the topics covered, social divisions is a big one. But Normal People both resents and reveres popularity and social status. The narration simmers bitterly with disdain, yet its preoccupation with it implies a deeper longing.
I was also very underwhelmed by Rooney’s display of what she thinks socio-economic disparity looks like. Connell wears less fancy clothes, but he has access to the same opportunities as everyone else and his family’s financial disparity seems to have very little impact on the particulars of his family life. Rooney’s depiction of it seems like a caricature of what rich people think poor people’s lives are like. It’s not just about simmering in shame and resentment because you don’t have brand named clothing.
Other stuff: The book sort of looks at the effects of physical abuse and depression, but it doesn’t seem to have much insight to offer on those topics. There’s also arguably an anti-feminist slant to the story overall. And by the end, the plot gets a little repetitive. But I had long stopped taking this story seriously by then, so these were the least of my concerns.
Comparisons to Salinger and Plath
Rooney has drawn comparisons to Salinger and Plath, presumably because they both also wrote angsty books about modern, urban life. But in addition to both being more insightful books, in The Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye, there’s a genuine and open longing for human connection that lies underneath all the angst and melancholy.
Holden and Esther don’t desire social status. They’re searching for innocence regained and something resembling happiness. These books comment on the superficial, but they grapple with the human condition.
Meanwhile, Marianne in Normal People grapples with … FOMO? An oft-quoted section of the text reads: “Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was or become part of it.” Yup, fear of missing out. It’s true and it’s a thing, but it’s also a fairly superficial concern.
As best, I found watered down facsimiles of Salinger-esque angst. For example, Connell inwardly grouses that his college discussions are abstract because no one is doing the class readings. And he muses that everyone around him only reads books as status symbols.
Read it or Skip it?
I know this is one of my harsher reviews, but I just didn’t enjoy this book. I understand why others might like it, as it is a very accessible, modern romance about beautiful, smart, worldly people. It appeals to people who’ve been in that type of will-they-or-won’t-they relationship.
But for me, it came off as shallow and kind of hypocritical. Plus, the main characters were too pitying, too self-loathing, too self-involved and too condescending for me to connect with on any level.
It’s pretty obvious that others may disagree with me regarding this book, and that’s okay! Feel free to share your thoughts below!
Normal People Movie / Film Adaptation
There’s a BBC production of Normal People is available on Hulu which aired in 2020. It started filming on May 27, 2019. Its a limited series consisting of 12 episodes that are 30 minutes long. See it on Hulu.
Skip It Published August 28, 2018
Page Count 288 pages
Goodreads3.81 (out of 5)
From the Publisher
At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers—one they are determined to conceal.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
I can totally understand that. I thought I was going to like this book too in the beginning when they’re still in high school, but as it moves into the college era and beyond, nothing really clicked for me. Thanks for your thoughts!
This is on my TBR list. Thank you for giving a thoughtful, honest review of this book. It’s easy to get drawn into the hype when I start seeing a book pop up on all the feeds and bookshelves. Funny, I am actually more curious to read it now, because I wonder if I will feel the same way!
Thanks for reading! And I totally get that — I wasn’t all that interested in this book until it was mentioned on a podcast and the people talking about it had really split views on the book (one loved it and one really did not), which piqued my interest, so I can relate for sure! :)
This is a very helpful and insightful review of this book. I have been wanting to read some of Rooney’s work this summer, since I had heard all of the hype about her. But it is useful to have a critical perspective also in mind as I do that. It will probably help give me a more balanced reading experience. Thank you!
Thank you for this review. I’ve been planning on reading at least one of Rooney’s books (though have been undecided on which one). It is helpful to have both viewpoints in mind as I dive into that. I still want to read her work, but I like hearing multiple perspectives beforehand so I’m not biased. Thanks for the great review!
Thanks for reading abigail! I think most reviews I’ve seen preferred Normal People over Conversations, but in general it seems like most people either like her style or don’t so you’ll probably come away with a similar opinion regardless of which one you read. And yes, I totally agree it’s better to just check it out if you’re curious and make up your own mind! It’s a quick read either way! :)
I appreciate the honesty of this review. This is one of those books that has gotten so much hype and it’s never looked like one I would be interested in. This helps seal that. Thanks!
Completely agree with you on all points! It’s so annoying how this is being heavily promoted by the media and the critics as such a brilliant book, when it’s mediocre and boring with an unresolved abuse storyline and smug lack of punctuation. Massively overhyped. I have read both this and Conversations with Friends and will certainly not be reading any more of her.
Yeah, I feel like I’m not reading the same book. And they’re like, Leonardo Di Caprio’s girlfriend and Emily Ratajkowski love it!! And I’m like, why does two models liking a book have any cache in the literary world?
I normally am the last to read hypes books (I’ve always been late to the trendy party.) I did get this one last week as my BOTM pick when I signed up but haven’t read it, yet. Your review is amazing. I still want to read it to see what the hype is about.
I gave it a 3/5 because I can never quite get on board with literary fiction and how hard it tries. Your review is certainly much harsher than mine and I think it’s because parts of the book really resonated with me and I felt like Rooney captured the uncertainty of being young and thinking of yourself as very clever, really well. I did enjoy reading your review, because had I not connected with the book at all I think I would have written it off!
I have never been interested in even trying her books. I feel I have read enough literary sensations over my (46) year lifetime to last me another lifetime ;)
haha I can totally understand that, and yes it seems every few months there’s a new literary sensation, I’m sure the next one will be coming along a few weeks from now…
Halfway through your review, I was thinking that these characters remind me of Holden Caulfield and lo and behold, you addressed it. As someone who suffers from immense FOMO, I love stories about people who suffer from FOMO, so I think I will pick it up for that reason. It sound superficial and quite silly, I’ll probably hate the characters, but I think it’ll be kind of a fun and light ride.
Oh dear. I have this on my TBR cart but your review specifically mentions things that would bug me. I definitely jumped on the hype bandwagon on this one!
I am not going to explain why, but I can safely say that I’ve read this book with as much attention as the author herself (possibly more), and I am mildly surprised that it’s been published in the first place. I am not surprised that she is being so over-hyped, though. It’s a business strategy. Publishers are quite cynical a lot, and they know what will sell among an increasing crowd of people who are discovering the world primarily via social media and whose scope of verbal expression is trained (and confined to) by regularly reading/writing a few hundred characters plus a few “emoticons”.
BTW, there is absolutely nothing typically “millenial” about any of the relationships, as I have seen some people claim. It’s basically all the same-old-same-old – and how could it be otherwise? Basic human emotions and fears have hardly changed over the ages. The difference is that, in the past, the people who gained acclaim for writing about them used to be not only articulate but TRULY profound and never boring.
I read this as part of a book club – the meeting hasn’t happened yet. I found it annoying. The characters seemed to lack basic insight into themselves – which I was okay with in high school but it just seemed to continue. I expected the book to show more character evolution. Their concerns were so superficial – I found myself musing that these were definitely people I wouldn’t want a friendship with. It just didn’t seem to go much of anywhere – in plot, character evolution – anything. I got to the end and felt lost about all the hype. So thank you.
I agree completely with your review. Everybody around me praises this book and I started to wonder if there was really something I was missing…But reading your review made me feel comfortable again with my feelings about this book: shallow characters and superficial all along.
This was an awful book. I did not like or care for any of the characters. It wasn’t even well written. Repetitive, boring and all together a tedious read.
I thought your review was accurate. I feel that Sally Rooney has not managed yet to write beyond her own experiences and whilst the dynamic between
Marianne and Connell is at first fascinating it is revisited in ever decreasing circles which lack, for me, any real insight.
Thank you for this review! You have articulated everything about this book that I felt whilst reading it – but I didn’t have the words to express. A lot of people I respect the opinions of absolutely loved this book, but I just didn’t.
Thank you so much for this – I agree with every word! It’s very hard to disagree with all the literary critics, it makes you think you’re going mad, but this review confirms my opinion completely, lack of punctuation and all!
Thank you for your review, the excerpt, and especially the detailed synopsis as l am highly unlikely to read this book ever. I could barely manage the first two pages of the text provided. Then l decided to be fair and unbiased; l found a random bit of my free text entitlement, and then another one – it was even worse.
Never mind the story; of course l could never relate to the Normal People and their problems, because the literary technique and style is revolting, it is so bad, it is not even pretentious, just slapdash and shoddy. The one thing the author managed to convey is the immanent and imminent atmosphere of misery. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a natural or supernatural disaster/suicide epidemic/zombie apocalypse in the pages l missed. And it is in a story about people with academic aspirations: notwithstanding the ever-present stress, there are surely certain joys in it.
Nominating things to be so and so without proof seems to be the author’s favourite tool. Another (abused – didn’t need much to see it) tool is the Present Tense, only it came out of fashion ages ago. Does it mean that ‘normal people’ are so primal that they are only reacting to immediate stimuli, not able to reflect on the past and be more or less confident about the future? Where are the promised social class tensions supposed to come from? The ‘heroes’ come across as equally underprivileged, skulking in soul-destroying grim spaces, struggling to express their thoughts.
My hypothesis is, it has something to do with a missed deadline. The author sort of churned it out and tossed it all together; if it was food, it would be totally unpalatable, without any nutritional value, just some dry bran in pellets that pretend to be healthy but simply scratch my throat, impossible to swallow. I would have liked to further analyse and critique the morsels of the attempted-to-read text but as a university student l have got lots of cramming to do. The one thing Normal People taught me: don’t be behind schedule.
I read fifty percent of book then –I began watching the hulu series ——after first two episodes I finished book ===then reread book–Now I am going to say -I watched the whole series and just cant stop thinking my imagination cant get a good detail of just the chemistry and physical part. THey really brought the events to life.I am addicted to repeat watching. I am in love –that’s all I can say. I really am jealous ,because this shy weirdo never did all that until um thirty lol I was a kisser a first base girl. —I just I guess didn’t trust anyone enough to be that vulnerable as a teen or in my college years —
Wanted to react and day that I am also totally addicted to the series. Here in the Netherlands it’s on TV now. Heart wrenching. Great acting. Bought the book to read it again. Ah well, there is no accounting for taste.
I see possibilities for Mescal as a young Bond. Or a colleague of Bond :-)
Wanted to react and say that I am also totally addicted to the series. Here in the Netherlands it’s on TV now. Heart wrenching. Great acting. Bought the book to read it again. Ah well, there is no accounting for taste. It is not a ‘Kerewin’ or O’Farells ‘Hamnet’ but I find it extremely captivating.
I see possibilities for Mescal as a young Bond. Or a colleague of Bond :-)
I have just deleted this book off my Kindle. It’s impossible to read without the speech marks to the extent it actually made me feel sick trying. And I’m furious I’ve paid good money for this trash. Bad, bad, bad!!!! 😡
I agree with you and your thoughts on this book. I’m reading it and not finished but ready to give it up. It just goes on and on. When are these two young people going to realize they love each other. It’s getting so DULL. After reading your review I’m sending the book back. And I plan on reading something a little more worthwhile. I am not spending another minute reading this book. Can’t tell you how disappointed I am in this book. I thought it would be good.
I hate leaving a book midway, and feel terribly guilty about it. I picked this up yesterday and read through half of it hoping I find something that resonates with me, something that’s insightful, but I think I’ve just come beyond this type of literature, if I could call it that.
The guilt of leaving the book midway got me here, to know that I’m not missing out on much and that it’s okay for me to leave some that just don’t sit well with you.
Thank you for your review, it helped me keep the book down! :P
OMG this was my exact experience I normally find redeeming qualities in books and characters this had none and the writing style was not for me at all. I actually just quit today 3/4 way through even though I am reading it for a book club tomorrow night it was depressing the hell out of me and putting me in a bad mood the last two days. Headed back to Raphael by Stephanie Storey which I was enjoying immensely.
I thought I had a book full of errors when I began reading it. Then I discovered this is the way the author intended to to write it. I have no idea why. And I have no idea why I bothered
to read this, other than it was a book club selection.
I am half way through the book and this review is the only review I 100% agree with. I felt i was missing something while reading the book because I couldn’t see why ppl like it so much or what was so great about it. I was trying my very best to give into to peer pressure and like it but I really don’t like it. And i was so glad that someone out there feels the same way.
Thanks for your honest review! It made me feel heard and i could relate.
Dear Jennifer Marie Lin,
reading your review was very refreshing after being forced to read that novel at school. I knew right from the start that I probably will not enjoy it after first reading title and description. However, my classmates considered it a good idea to choose it for our English class. I wanted to read Animal Farm by George Orwell -but unfortunately I seemed to be the only one. Instead, as already mentioned, I was forced to buy “Normal People”. I didnt enjoy reading it because I simply dont like the main characters at all. “Looking down at everyone else with them” was not a pleasurable experience for me as well. Frankly, I did not feel any empathy for Marianne or Connel at all. In my opinion, they are both overwhelmingly boring people and the “irony” of the title makes me sick. The author did not only completely fail at keeping readers interested but also made me falling asleep halfway through reading the book. I am not exaggerating.
We were not really stoked with the book. The first 100 pages were hard to get into, not only because of the writing style, also because of the boring story! Still we kept on reading ( forcing us ) and we did not loose the feeling the first 100 pages generated, it got better, not good, but better.
But lets talk about the characters, the two teens, one popular and one not, were our main protagonists in the hard reading process. Both were filled with misgust and insecurities all over the place, too much problems which took up way too much of the story. Bringing in some problems is not bad at all but bringing in so much that we were not able to create a reading flow, is just a bad thing. Both Marianne and Connell have a background story at the beginnig. We have a rich person and a poor person. But as we move on, we rearly come back to these stories so basically this was maybe useless (what a wonder).
The book surely has its advantages, a lot actually! But the problems are to major to just oversee and ignore them.
Is it worth a read? Maybe
It is not long but we just did not find a way to really get into the story and find ourselves in the world of “Normal People”
So first of all, I think you made your decision by just reading the first pages. This is very unfair.
I can partly understand your thoughts, but you have to keep in mind that this story is about two people who are going to college. This is not just fictional. You can project this story into reality.
Maybe you should give the book the chance and read it, because than you can really judge about it.
Another point: Do you really expect that the topics physical abuse and depression should be more spreaded out in the book? When Sally Rooney had done this everyone would complain about this, because the book should not show this.
Instead of this, the book tells a story about a relationship. The book does not deal with psychological issues!
You complain on a superficial level about the characters, do you this in real life too? Everyone is individual and should not be judged by their behaviour, thoughts, emotions, character or appearance. Keep this in mind.
Please overthink your ideas on the book. Maybe you should read the whole book!
I totally agree, it’s shallow and boring and I’m very disappointed. Have not finished it yet but really not enjoying it so far. No idea how this became a best seller, I guess we are living in the Netflix era?
I loved the first half of this book. It tore me open. It brown my heart. It made me feel. But the second half… lost me.
I can totally understand that. I thought I was going to like this book too in the beginning when they’re still in high school, but as it moves into the college era and beyond, nothing really clicked for me. Thanks for your thoughts!
This is on my TBR list. Thank you for giving a thoughtful, honest review of this book. It’s easy to get drawn into the hype when I start seeing a book pop up on all the feeds and bookshelves. Funny, I am actually more curious to read it now, because I wonder if I will feel the same way!
Thanks for reading! And I totally get that — I wasn’t all that interested in this book until it was mentioned on a podcast and the people talking about it had really split views on the book (one loved it and one really did not), which piqued my interest, so I can relate for sure! :)
This is a very helpful and insightful review of this book. I have been wanting to read some of Rooney’s work this summer, since I had heard all of the hype about her. But it is useful to have a critical perspective also in mind as I do that. It will probably help give me a more balanced reading experience. Thank you!
Thank you! I think my review is one of the harshest I’ve seen so I really encourage people to make up their own minds about her. Happy reading! :)
Thank you for this review. I’ve been planning on reading at least one of Rooney’s books (though have been undecided on which one). It is helpful to have both viewpoints in mind as I dive into that. I still want to read her work, but I like hearing multiple perspectives beforehand so I’m not biased. Thanks for the great review!
Thanks for reading abigail! I think most reviews I’ve seen preferred Normal People over Conversations, but in general it seems like most people either like her style or don’t so you’ll probably come away with a similar opinion regardless of which one you read. And yes, I totally agree it’s better to just check it out if you’re curious and make up your own mind! It’s a quick read either way! :)
I appreciate the honesty of this review. This is one of those books that has gotten so much hype and it’s never looked like one I would be interested in. This helps seal that. Thanks!
Thanks for dropping by and for your thoughts! :)
Completely agree with you on all points! It’s so annoying how this is being heavily promoted by the media and the critics as such a brilliant book, when it’s mediocre and boring with an unresolved abuse storyline and smug lack of punctuation. Massively overhyped. I have read both this and Conversations with Friends and will certainly not be reading any more of her.
Yeah, I feel like I’m not reading the same book. And they’re like, Leonardo Di Caprio’s girlfriend and Emily Ratajkowski love it!! And I’m like, why does two models liking a book have any cache in the literary world?
It’s become what I call a ‘bandwagon book’ – even people who aren’t keen readers will start to read a book if celebrities recommend it.
I normally am the last to read hypes books (I’ve always been late to the trendy party.) I did get this one last week as my BOTM pick when I signed up but haven’t read it, yet. Your review is amazing. I still want to read it to see what the hype is about.
Thank you! Look forward to reading your thoughts on it!
Thanks for your honest thoughts on this one.
Thanks for reading, Rosi! :)
I gave it a 3/5 because I can never quite get on board with literary fiction and how hard it tries. Your review is certainly much harsher than mine and I think it’s because parts of the book really resonated with me and I felt like Rooney captured the uncertainty of being young and thinking of yourself as very clever, really well. I did enjoy reading your review, because had I not connected with the book at all I think I would have written it off!
great review!
thank you!
I have never been interested in even trying her books. I feel I have read enough literary sensations over my (46) year lifetime to last me another lifetime ;)
haha I can totally understand that, and yes it seems every few months there’s a new literary sensation, I’m sure the next one will be coming along a few weeks from now…
I can’t wait to read this one! Have been seeing it everywhere ! *.*
Basically, one of my fav bloggers recommended it that’s why I want to try it! 🙈 Sorta mixed review book tho!
Halfway through your review, I was thinking that these characters remind me of Holden Caulfield and lo and behold, you addressed it. As someone who suffers from immense FOMO, I love stories about people who suffer from FOMO, so I think I will pick it up for that reason. It sound superficial and quite silly, I’ll probably hate the characters, but I think it’ll be kind of a fun and light ride.
Oh dear. I have this on my TBR cart but your review specifically mentions things that would bug me. I definitely jumped on the hype bandwagon on this one!
I am not going to explain why, but I can safely say that I’ve read this book with as much attention as the author herself (possibly more), and I am mildly surprised that it’s been published in the first place. I am not surprised that she is being so over-hyped, though. It’s a business strategy. Publishers are quite cynical a lot, and they know what will sell among an increasing crowd of people who are discovering the world primarily via social media and whose scope of verbal expression is trained (and confined to) by regularly reading/writing a few hundred characters plus a few “emoticons”.
BTW, there is absolutely nothing typically “millenial” about any of the relationships, as I have seen some people claim. It’s basically all the same-old-same-old – and how could it be otherwise? Basic human emotions and fears have hardly changed over the ages. The difference is that, in the past, the people who gained acclaim for writing about them used to be not only articulate but TRULY profound and never boring.
I read this as part of a book club – the meeting hasn’t happened yet. I found it annoying. The characters seemed to lack basic insight into themselves – which I was okay with in high school but it just seemed to continue. I expected the book to show more character evolution. Their concerns were so superficial – I found myself musing that these were definitely people I wouldn’t want a friendship with. It just didn’t seem to go much of anywhere – in plot, character evolution – anything. I got to the end and felt lost about all the hype. So thank you.
I agree completely with your review. Everybody around me praises this book and I started to wonder if there was really something I was missing…But reading your review made me feel comfortable again with my feelings about this book: shallow characters and superficial all along.
This was an awful book. I did not like or care for any of the characters. It wasn’t even well written. Repetitive, boring and all together a tedious read.
I thought your review was accurate. I feel that Sally Rooney has not managed yet to write beyond her own experiences and whilst the dynamic between
Marianne and Connell is at first fascinating it is revisited in ever decreasing circles which lack, for me, any real insight.
Thank you for this review! You have articulated everything about this book that I felt whilst reading it – but I didn’t have the words to express. A lot of people I respect the opinions of absolutely loved this book, but I just didn’t.
Thank you so much for this – I agree with every word! It’s very hard to disagree with all the literary critics, it makes you think you’re going mad, but this review confirms my opinion completely, lack of punctuation and all!
Thank you for your review, the excerpt, and especially the detailed synopsis as l am highly unlikely to read this book ever. I could barely manage the first two pages of the text provided. Then l decided to be fair and unbiased; l found a random bit of my free text entitlement, and then another one – it was even worse.
Never mind the story; of course l could never relate to the Normal People and their problems, because the literary technique and style is revolting, it is so bad, it is not even pretentious, just slapdash and shoddy. The one thing the author managed to convey is the immanent and imminent atmosphere of misery. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a natural or supernatural disaster/suicide epidemic/zombie apocalypse in the pages l missed. And it is in a story about people with academic aspirations: notwithstanding the ever-present stress, there are surely certain joys in it.
Nominating things to be so and so without proof seems to be the author’s favourite tool. Another (abused – didn’t need much to see it) tool is the Present Tense, only it came out of fashion ages ago. Does it mean that ‘normal people’ are so primal that they are only reacting to immediate stimuli, not able to reflect on the past and be more or less confident about the future? Where are the promised social class tensions supposed to come from? The ‘heroes’ come across as equally underprivileged, skulking in soul-destroying grim spaces, struggling to express their thoughts.
My hypothesis is, it has something to do with a missed deadline. The author sort of churned it out and tossed it all together; if it was food, it would be totally unpalatable, without any nutritional value, just some dry bran in pellets that pretend to be healthy but simply scratch my throat, impossible to swallow. I would have liked to further analyse and critique the morsels of the attempted-to-read text but as a university student l have got lots of cramming to do. The one thing Normal People taught me: don’t be behind schedule.
I read fifty percent of book then –I began watching the hulu series ——after first two episodes I finished book ===then reread book–Now I am going to say -I watched the whole series and just cant stop thinking my imagination cant get a good detail of just the chemistry and physical part. THey really brought the events to life.I am addicted to repeat watching. I am in love –that’s all I can say. I really am jealous ,because this shy weirdo never did all that until um thirty lol I was a kisser a first base girl. —I just I guess didn’t trust anyone enough to be that vulnerable as a teen or in my college years —
Wanted to react and day that I am also totally addicted to the series. Here in the Netherlands it’s on TV now. Heart wrenching. Great acting. Bought the book to read it again. Ah well, there is no accounting for taste.
I see possibilities for Mescal as a young Bond. Or a colleague of Bond :-)
Wanted to react and say that I am also totally addicted to the series. Here in the Netherlands it’s on TV now. Heart wrenching. Great acting. Bought the book to read it again. Ah well, there is no accounting for taste. It is not a ‘Kerewin’ or O’Farells ‘Hamnet’ but I find it extremely captivating.
I see possibilities for Mescal as a young Bond. Or a colleague of Bond :-)
I have just deleted this book off my Kindle. It’s impossible to read without the speech marks to the extent it actually made me feel sick trying. And I’m furious I’ve paid good money for this trash. Bad, bad, bad!!!! 😡
I found this book very disappointing. I thought you summed it up very well. I was searching for a plot and really couldn’t find one.
I agree with you and your thoughts on this book. I’m reading it and not finished but ready to give it up. It just goes on and on. When are these two young people going to realize they love each other. It’s getting so DULL. After reading your review I’m sending the book back. And I plan on reading something a little more worthwhile. I am not spending another minute reading this book. Can’t tell you how disappointed I am in this book. I thought it would be good.
I hate leaving a book midway, and feel terribly guilty about it. I picked this up yesterday and read through half of it hoping I find something that resonates with me, something that’s insightful, but I think I’ve just come beyond this type of literature, if I could call it that.
The guilt of leaving the book midway got me here, to know that I’m not missing out on much and that it’s okay for me to leave some that just don’t sit well with you.
Thank you for your review, it helped me keep the book down! :P
OMG this was my exact experience I normally find redeeming qualities in books and characters this had none and the writing style was not for me at all. I actually just quit today 3/4 way through even though I am reading it for a book club tomorrow night it was depressing the hell out of me and putting me in a bad mood the last two days. Headed back to Raphael by Stephanie Storey which I was enjoying immensely.
I thought I had a book full of errors when I began reading it. Then I discovered this is the way the author intended to to write it. I have no idea why. And I have no idea why I bothered
to read this, other than it was a book club selection.
I am half way through the book and this review is the only review I 100% agree with. I felt i was missing something while reading the book because I couldn’t see why ppl like it so much or what was so great about it. I was trying my very best to give into to peer pressure and like it but I really don’t like it. And i was so glad that someone out there feels the same way.
Thanks for your honest review! It made me feel heard and i could relate.
I couldn’t make it past the first chapter. I just couldn’t stand the prose or the story as far as I read it.
Dear Jennifer Marie Lin,
reading your review was very refreshing after being forced to read that novel at school. I knew right from the start that I probably will not enjoy it after first reading title and description. However, my classmates considered it a good idea to choose it for our English class. I wanted to read Animal Farm by George Orwell -but unfortunately I seemed to be the only one. Instead, as already mentioned, I was forced to buy “Normal People”. I didnt enjoy reading it because I simply dont like the main characters at all. “Looking down at everyone else with them” was not a pleasurable experience for me as well. Frankly, I did not feel any empathy for Marianne or Connel at all. In my opinion, they are both overwhelmingly boring people and the “irony” of the title makes me sick. The author did not only completely fail at keeping readers interested but also made me falling asleep halfway through reading the book. I am not exaggerating.
We were not really stoked with the book. The first 100 pages were hard to get into, not only because of the writing style, also because of the boring story! Still we kept on reading ( forcing us ) and we did not loose the feeling the first 100 pages generated, it got better, not good, but better.
But lets talk about the characters, the two teens, one popular and one not, were our main protagonists in the hard reading process. Both were filled with misgust and insecurities all over the place, too much problems which took up way too much of the story. Bringing in some problems is not bad at all but bringing in so much that we were not able to create a reading flow, is just a bad thing. Both Marianne and Connell have a background story at the beginnig. We have a rich person and a poor person. But as we move on, we rearly come back to these stories so basically this was maybe useless (what a wonder).
The book surely has its advantages, a lot actually! But the problems are to major to just oversee and ignore them.
Is it worth a read? Maybe
It is not long but we just did not find a way to really get into the story and find ourselves in the world of “Normal People”
So first of all, I think you made your decision by just reading the first pages. This is very unfair.
I can partly understand your thoughts, but you have to keep in mind that this story is about two people who are going to college. This is not just fictional. You can project this story into reality.
Maybe you should give the book the chance and read it, because than you can really judge about it.
Another point: Do you really expect that the topics physical abuse and depression should be more spreaded out in the book? When Sally Rooney had done this everyone would complain about this, because the book should not show this.
Instead of this, the book tells a story about a relationship. The book does not deal with psychological issues!
You complain on a superficial level about the characters, do you this in real life too? Everyone is individual and should not be judged by their behaviour, thoughts, emotions, character or appearance. Keep this in mind.
Please overthink your ideas on the book. Maybe you should read the whole book!
I totally agree, it’s shallow and boring and I’m very disappointed. Have not finished it yet but really not enjoying it so far. No idea how this became a best seller, I guess we are living in the Netflix era?
I found it boring. I couldn’t finish it. I can’t understand how it could be considered “literary fiction”. But it has sold brilliantly!