City News

Normal People by Sally Rooney is about a complicated relationship between two teenagers

Connell and Marianne. They both went to the same school and later, the same college. Connell's

character is described as popular, intelligent, and handsome. He starts seeing Marianne who is an

unpopular and shy girl. Conner’s mother was hired as a cleaner for Marrianne’s mother. Connell

tries to hide the fact that his mother is cleaner because of the shame he has. Right after school, in

summer, Connell leaves Marianne. They again meet each other in university however now they

are opposite. Connell becomes unpopular and is unable to fit in with other peers. Marianne, on

the other hand, becomes popular and outgoing. Throughout the university, they become friends

on and of and share their traumas and insecurities. Sometimes the damage and the pain are just

too deep to reveal oneself to another. It’s better to bury it and deny it, to pretend to not care as a

defense mechanism. The truth is they care very much, but they don’t feel deserving of love and

kindness. Such a person often turns to unhealthy ways of managing their pain. Marianne's feeling

she is unworthy of being loved without abuse or mistreatment, and the way she is treated by her

family, boyfriends, and others, is very difficult to read about at times. Connell's bouts with

depression are also quite painful to read, so at times this book felt very heavy, and its pacing

seemed to move much slower than I would have expected.

The book aims to hit emotional poignancy by showing how people weave in and out of your life

and exploring themes of first love, class differences, and depression. I love in-depth character

studies and you get that with this one. You see the ups and downs of each of the characters, you

see the issues they have, how neither one feels they are worthy.

And, though I know almost nothing about Rooney, it feels like a very autobiographical novel -

most young writers tend to write about themselves to start with, after all. She’s a young Irish

woman who went to Trinity College, Dublin, on a scholarship, like Marianne, and the novel ends

with the characters in their mid-20s, which is the same age I suspect Rooney was when she

stopped writing this (she’s now 27 years old). In that regard, you could say it’s somewhat

unimaginative.

One of the things did not like about this book is that the writing lacks quotation marks, which

makes the dialogue difficult to decipher. which could be seen as support for the idea that life is

just as messy as the formatting and communication of the book sometimes takes effort to

understand.

Despite the book's emotional turmoil, Rooney's writing is exceptional. Rooney did a great job in

the use of language and imagery. She definitely got me completely immersed in this book and

these characters, even when things seemed particularly draining or moved slowly. Normal

people is really affecting me, and it will stick with me for a long time.

Check out Normal People from Newport Beach Public Library!