Normal People - Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Mariannes 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 in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, 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.
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.

MY OPINION: ***

I picked this up in my school library because I remember seeing it on Goodreads. I was not particularly interested in it but I've been trying to get back into reading more and it was familiar.

It was a very unique read, unlike anything I've read before. I started out not enjoying it and was contemplating not finishing it. However, I've learned from experience that books I think I'm not going to like I generally end up liking. For this particular one, I'm glad I finished it because even though it was not my favorite book, it's a good one to have completed.

It's told from the perspectives of two characters, Marianne and Connell, who are very different from each other. There are time jumps every chapter, some being months, some being minutes. I usually don't like time jumps but for this particular story, I think it worked really well.

The writing style was what threw me off the most at first. There are no "" marks for the dialogue and it's written like flowery prose, with large amounts of description and almost "philosophical-sounding" ideas.

The characters start in high school. Marianne is the weird girl that nobody really likes, though she is both smart and rich. At home, she is very emotionally and sometimes physically abused by her brother and her mother. Connell is the exact opposite. He is popular and well-known in the school. His mother works as a housekeeper for Marianne's family, showing the disparity in incomes/class between the two characters.

Connell and Marianne begin a secret sexual relationship in which they are not dating but are physically intimate with each other. However, Connell doesn't want anybody at school to find out about their relationship because he fears that it will ruin his reputation.

Marianne convinces Connell to apply to Trinity College with her. He agrees and a year later, they're both attending the same college. They've drifted apart after they break off their relationship due to Connell's insecurities about it.

They meet again in college as completely different people. Marianne is now popular and Connell has fallen into depression. I liked the change in the characters because it felt real and not at all fictional.

The college section of the book was more depressing. Both Marianne and Connell are in new relationships and have different friends. However, they aren't ever truly separated and keep in contact despite dating other people. Marianne has extremely bad luck with guys.

I didn't like the ending of this book. It felt unfinished somehow, and I would have liked more of a conclusion (or a second book). However, Marianne and Connell prevail, despite their class differences and struggles and the tolling effects of abuse, depression, and mental illness.

The best thing about this book is the insightfulness of the writer. Rooney manages to write with clear acuity and precision and I can truly feel what the characters are feeling. Everything she writes is something real and something that readers can relate to somehow.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for a unique, insightful, beautifully-written novel about first love, the struggles of class differences, and dealing with the effects of depression and abuse.

Main Character: Marianne, Connell
Sidekick(s): Lorraine, etc
Villain(s): Depression, abuse, class differences, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book is very real to life.