*spoilers ahead*
Normal People is a book that is everywhere at the moment: it’s on the top 10 list of most booksellers’ charts, it’s been on most people’s Instagram’s (mine included), and is very much portrayed as a must-read. Although it is not one of my new favourite books, I think there are a lot of important themes present throughout.
Normal People tells the love story of Connell & Marianne, but it is not your traditional romance novel, which is very refreshing. When I began reading, I got the impression it was a young person’s book as it focuses on two teenagers in their last year of school, entering adulthood when applying for University. Yet, the story covers several years, with both the story and the characters growing and adapting to their new struggles and obstacles in life. There are several honest discussions of sex, especially with Marianne’s character as a masochistic (especially when she is in a relationship with Jamie), but is not graphic or romanticised in the context of the two characters and so it does not distract from the storyline, but simply enriches it.
As Connell and Marianne become romantically intertwined, we see how loneliness and their town’s social hierarchy impacts the two. In school, Connell is the popular guy with lots of friends and remains comfortable in a school environment but comes from a working-class background. Yet Marianne is quite the opposite; a stranger, quieter student, often perceived as the “weird girl”. Marianne is from a wealthy household, with Connell’s mother, Lorraine, employed by Marianne’s family as a cleaner. It is interesting to see how despite such different socio-economic differences, both characters share similar experiences in loneliness, confiding in each other throughout their teen and early adult years. When the two both go to Trinity College in Dublin, their roles reverse, as Marianne thrives at her new college whilst Connell battles with his identity, struggling to fit in with all these new people. After copious failed relationships with other people, Connell and Marianne always find their way back to each other, being a support system that they never knew they needed. Rooney has an interesting take on love, developing the concept of “right person wrong time” as there never seems to be the right time for Connell and Marianne.
However, I did find the style of Rooney’s writing sometimes frustrating. When beginning Normal People, I was thrown by Rooney’s lack of quotation marks when using speech. This was bothersome as before you could even gauge the story I found I was re-reading the first page to make sure I knew who was saying what, which you don’t want to do as soon as you start a book. However, I recognise this could be my lack of experience of reading novels in this way, but it did disrupt the flow of the book for me. Nonetheless, this is something that you quickly forget, as you adapt to Rooney’s writing. Whilst this is not something I favour; I have read other reviews which suggest this was used to portray the complexities of the communication between the two main characters.
Although I generally enjoyed the book, I did find there some unnecessary over-descriptive segments which did not add much to the scene.
He puts his hands in his pockets and suppresses an irritable sigh, but suppresses it with an audible intake of breath, so that it still sounds like a sigh.
Normal People., p2
Whilst these are harmless added descriptions, I found myself often focusing on this to understand its importance as oppose to other interesting aspects of Normal People. Sentences like the above, for me, were just confusing and did not add any value to the story. I discovered that with Rooney’s writing, I either found it immensely captivating or simply uninteresting, and there wasn’t much of an in-between.
After reading the book, I then watched Youtuber and author Jack Edwards video where he read all the books that Connell studies. This enlightened me to the significance of why these books were mentioned in Normal People and how they added value, such as The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in which Connell recommends to Marianne. I think this was a really unique way of adding depth to the existing themes in Normal People. The class disparity in society is fundamental to this narrative, shown not just through Connell and Marianne’s relationship but also in the scene where Connell goes to a literary reading but feels rather alienated in his surroundings. It delves into the idea that people will buy a product, such as a book, in order to belong to a certain class and community; the concept of buying your way into a certain way of life. Rooney is a Marxist writer and explains how this influences Normal People in an interview and so the book can be seen very much as a Marxist text. This made me appreciate the book a lot more, as the poems and books mentioned usually represented the position and struggles of the main characters.
I would recommend Normal People as a nice, easy to read book which has a new and interesting take on the usual romance novels, but for me personally, it is not one of my new favourites. There are interesting backgrounds to both Connell and Marianne’s families which I wish were developed more, especially with Marianne’s brother, Alan, physically abusing her throughout her life. We seem to lack some context as to why her brother acts this way. We discover Marianne’s father died earlier in her life, but other than that we do not know much else. Both Connell and Marianne also call their mothers by their first name, another interesting similarity that binds the two together. I did often find myself becoming more interested in these family dynamics more so than Connell and Marianne’s love story. I found the relationship repetitive in terms of being together, but not officially, to then separated and not speaking, back to sleeping with each other, etc. I also wish Connell’s depression was expanded on more too, in which Marianne seemed to help Connell get through it. It is impressive that Rooney was able to include many themes in Normal People but sometimes I felt more time could have been spent on each.
I also enjoyed how Rooney told the story through both character’s perspective, especially Connell’s, as a sensitive male’s perception of love was different from other romance novels I have read. Rooney is effective in displaying the complicated relationship between Connell and Marianne, resulting in the reader wanting the two characters together, as that is when they seem most happy. It is ironic how the two connect on every level yet they miscommunicate on the most basic of things. For example, when Connell struggles to pay his rent, he hopes Marianne will offer for him to stay at her house, where he has been staying frequently anyway, but she does not. However, Marianne thought it was because Connell did not want to be there. Although this is frustrating, this is a book about “normal people” and these are normal things that do happen.
Initially, I did not like the ending of the book as I found it quite underwhelming. However, with hindsight, I do appreciate that it was not a “happy ever after” ending, as this would not have been appropriate. The end of Normal People is not necessarily sad, but unfortunate that when Connell and Marianne finally seem happy, Connell receives an offer to study in America. Unsure of whether to go because of leaving Marianne, he is conflicted, but ultimately, Marianne encourages him to go and leave her.
Overall, Normal People is an enjoyable book that is easy to read in terms of the language Rooney uses. I have always thought of myself as a slow reader, but I read this book in two days! There were lots of themes throughout the book that weren’t hounded on or overwhelming, such as domestic abuse, sexual assault, depression and suicide, but were important to include and were executed well. However, due to its immense popularity currently, I feel Normal People may have been over-hyped for me. I did enjoy the book, but it is not a new favourite of mine. There is also a TV series of Normal People which I would like to watch too, and it will be intriguing to see whether the book or the show is preferred more.
3/5 stars
Soph's Library 