Normal People

I first heard of Normal People after a 5​⭐ review by Vox. After just her second novel, Rooney was already being hailed as a great Millennial writer. So I succumbed to the hype and bought Normal People¹. The plot revolves around two characters Marianne—a well-to-do anti-socialite—and Connell—a working class soccer player—as they revolve around each other throughout the last year of high school and college. At first Connell is the popular kid, an athlete, while Marianne is a weirdo. They begin seeing each other, but Connell hurts her when he doesn’t invite Marianne to the Debs (a school dance). Once both attend Trinity College Dublin, the power dynamics have reversed. Marianne has made many friends with some well-connected students, while Connell is now the reticent one.

The on-and-off relationship between Marianne and Connell is rich. You can feel each blow in their conversations. No quotes surround the dialogue it merges with the rest of the text. Rooney details every vacillation and significant event in their relationship in flash forwards. They get together at the end of their first year of university, then drift apart. Marianne becomes the victim of abuse; Connell dates nice women but is unsatisfied. Normal people would probably drift apart at this point, the forces of life pulling them apart. But like opposing charges, Marianne and Connell are drawn to each other. I don’t like the book as much as the reviewers, but that is more a fault of my background than the book. I have never been in a romantic relationship. The actions of Marianne and Connell often seems irrational to me. But it is a good book, even if I am hesitant to call it a great one.