“Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything,”

Sally Rooney, Normal People.

About the book:

Author: Sally Rooney

Published on: 28th August 2018

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Genre: Literary fiction.

My rating: 3.5/5

The Plot:

The story follows the lives of two teenagers, each unique in their own way and personality. We have Marianne, who is very private, lonely, proud and studious and always looking for a good conversation, you can sometimes also call her pretentious and then there’s Connell, the popular football star who is well-liked by everyone. Their lives are intertwined in many ways, with them attending the school and Connell’s mother working at her house, they see each other every day and the only conversation they have are pleasantries. However, something shifts and a connection forms, one that both are determined to keep secret.
After school, Marianne and Connell are studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has a whole new social circle to explore, while Connell has gone into his shell. However, as their college life begins they come together and together on a path of self-destruction each acting as a black hole, taking each other with them. With new opportunities coming their way, each having to choose an option.

Review:

This book received too much hype among the GenZ and Millennial groups, a lot of people were either recommending it or posting stories on various social media about it. Nowadays a lot of us, rely a lot on social media, and the things that we’ve seen too many times, we regard the same as the gold standard. So I went into this book, with so much enthusiasm and expectation, however, after reading it, the book did not live up to the amount of hype for me. However, this book paints a very realistic depiction of what teenagers are and how we think and that the only thing we cared about is how society perceives us, and judges us for who or what we are doing and how awkward and flawed we are! The book also addresses issues about the anxiety of moving to a new place, and the idea of not fitting in makes us feel. The thing about Sally Rooney’s writing is that she does not use quotation marks, which takes a while to get accustomed to. The thing about Sally Rooney’s this novel, makes me feel like all the fan-fiction I have read, however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like this book, I honestly did and but would I re-read it again? Maybe.

Trigger Warning: sexual assault; domestic abuse; drug use; casual racism (called out); depression; anxiety; suicide and suicidal ideation.

“Life is the thing you bring with you inside your own head.” 

Sally Rooney, Normal People.

About the author:

Sally Rooney is an Irish author and screenwriter, with her debut novel, ‘Conversations with Friends‘ which was published in 2017. It was nominated for various prizes like Folio Prize, International Dylan Thomas Prize and many others. Her debut novel won the 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. ‘Normal People‘ was also nominated for various prizes and an adaptation of the same novel was premiered in the year 2020. Her upcoming work,’ Beautiful World, Where Are You‘, is set to be published in September of this year (2021).