Normal People by Sally Rooney
“No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not.”
There’s something about Normal People that just draws you in and doesn’t let you go until you’ve devoured each and every page. Sally Rooney has a way with words like no other, and her writing style is unique to anything that I’ve read before – it reads like a stream of consciousness that exposes every inner thought beautifully. Normal People can be seen to be somewhat exclusive in its telling of two highly-educated and politically aware young-adults. As un-relatable as some may find their voice, there are other’s whom this will sing to.
Normal People is, as the name suggests, about normal everyday people – namely Marianne and Connell, two teenagers living in rural Ireland who are polar opposites from each other.
Marianne lives in a large house but struggles to connect with people and lies on the peripheral of the social scene at school. Connell on the other hand is one of the most popular guys at school, he lives a normal home life with his mother who happens to be a cleaner at Marianne’s house. The disparity between the two character’s doesn’t prevent their mutual attraction for each other which is evident from their conversations in Marianne’s kitchen.
“Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.”
The story follows Marianne and Connell through high school and their university years in Dublin; it follows their meandering relationship which changes depending on their surroundings and who they’re surrounded by. Sometimes they are together romantically and sometimes just as friends, but they always feature significantly in each other’s lives.
A weird sense of feminism runs throughout the novel, or at least there is a sense that Marianne finds it difficult to see feminism thrive in herself. Marianne struggles with her family and her brother is a violent and aggressive presence in her life. Some reviews class Sally Rooney’s depiction of sexual violence to be a glorification, but it could also be an approach to highlight how abuse permeates into an individual on a deeper level – they actually believe they need it to function properly. In order to present these themes, there are a lot of graphic sex scenes, they’re not particularly vulgar but, are somewhat essential to understanding Marianne’s character.
Despite the somewhat dark and gloomy tone of the book it is an uplifting and beautiful portrayal of being in love as a young adult. There is a lack of nostalgia or sentimentality, and instead the novel presents a stark portrayal of relationships, trust, sex, pain and love.
#FLODown: If you finish Normal People and can’t get enough, then don’t worry as it has been confirmed that the BBC will be adapting this for the screen.
Words by Mollie Kate Cohen
