Normal People READS

Summary

Normal People by Sally Rooney is a depressing yet highly addictive novel that tracks the relationship between two people from high school to university with differing circumstances. It explores changes in the relationship dynamics, personal growth and development and relationships throughout the characters' journeys.

Opinions

Objectively, this was a really interesting read. One criticism/difficulty experienced by some readers was that the lack of conventional quotations made it difficult for them to understand what is dialogue and who is speaking. For me personally, I didn't think this was an issue and instead thought that it helped with the flow as there weren't breaks such as 'he said...' or '... she replied'. 

I can't think of the word for this, it's not unconventional but it's not conventional either... after high school the 'weird' girl becomes popular whilst the golden/popular boy struggles to fit in with the crowd. These characters are very well written as for a young or even older audience, many readers will be able to relate to the characters' struggles in some way as the book exposes the struggles of youth. Alongside this, the characters experience growth and development emphasised by them transitioning from high school to university and the jumps in time. At first, I thought the jumps in time were a bit awkward but after a while you get the hang of it and I thought this was effective as it allowed the large timeline for the characters to develop without the novel dragging as pivotal moments in their lives and character were focused on. 

Personal Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book because of what I said previously as well as how much I related to the characters particularly as I just finished high school and am transitioning into university. I related so much to Marianne about how Connell was ashamed to be around her and all the feelings and insecurities of not being good enough that came along with it. And as they moved to university I really identified with Connell's struggles to 'fit in' or even create meaningful relationships with people despite being friendly and amiable. I was also invited to empathise with Marianne who wanted to please everyone and accepted things she didn't deserve because she didn't want to upset/burden people. Because of all of their awkwardness and struggles the characters seemed very real people and that is what I liked most. 

Reading the reviews on goodreads I'm quite sad at the number of low ratings that overpower the high ones around the top. I think this is a book that has to be read at the right time. Looking at the profile of the people who wrote the low reviews they seem to be older audiences so they probably were no longer able to identify with the modern youth struggles the characters experience. 

Many low-rating reviewers also did not enjoy how despite the characters' amazing chemistry, they just never got together, largely due to miscommunication. Yes, it isn't the ending us readers wanted but isn't that just how life is? No matter how much something seems to be... there's no guarantee that it'll happen. Maybe it just isn't the right time? Who knows. In my opinion it seems so shallow to think that characters who have communication issues will magically communicate amazingly about their struggles and idealistic to think that we'll all get the ending we want. But such is life. The novel captures the awkwardness and struggles of growing up and transitioning into adulthood. 

For me, this book gave me hope, as I identified most with Marianne it gives me hope that although I experienced a few lows in high school, I know that university and life moving forward will be better.