So I finished this book literally an hour ago. It took me all of 3 days to read, and I can see why they created a show on this book. Normal People by Sally Rooney is the type of YA story that is so realistically beautiful I am so glad non readers are now getting a chance to experience it.
The story goes; Marianne and Connell go to the same school, Connell's mother works as a cleaner at Marianne's house and it is through this interaaction they begin their on/off friendship. Throughout the course of the next few years we see snippets of their lives and how they interlock with each other and others around them.
As I mentioned I can completely see why this has been adapted to a series. It shows both the complex lives of adolescents finding their way in society and with their friends and families, while also tackling difficult situations such as domestic abuse and suicide. From the start it is clear who the heroes of the story are, and its increasingly frustrating when you can see what one is thinking and yet they have no idea how to describe what they want and how they feel, and therefore lose the moment altogether and end up veering off down a path you do not expect, or want, them to go. Its beautiful because its real. How often have you wanted something but not expressed yourself in order to achieve this? How often has something slipped from your grasp and you have been unable to have the confidence to snatch it back? This story covers real feelings of Normal People who may not feel normal, they may think they are weird, no one else surely thinks like them. News flash.... its all normal.
Aside from the clear coming of age story these two follow, as I briefly mentioned this also covers difficult subjects as well. The way the world is going it is hard enough for teenagers to find out what job they want, decide what to study at college and most importantly who they are and where they fit in. This book covers this and more and I found myself genuinely invested in these two like I knew them. There were times I was reading and I felt my eyes slowly well up as the words appeared in front of me. I also found myself outraged by certain topics and felt the injustice of how these characters were being treated. Worse still you know this happens day to day behind closed doors.
One thing I struggled with as I started reading this was the lack of speech marks! I have always been a stickler for punctuation and seeing no speech marks really threw me, I found I had to retrace my steps and re-read sentences while I then put my imaginary voice to the character I hadn't realised was speaking(!). Yes it was a bit of a distraction at first, and I really thought it would cause a problem for me reading this book that had already had so much hype. Luckily I grew accustomed to it quick enough and managed to focus on the story rather that getting confused as to who was speaking and when! So if your like me, stick with it!
The biggest plus on this for me was my enjoyment of the characters, all of them, and their relationships with each other. Lorraine is an absolute darl, I am in love with her relationship with Connell. This mother/son relationship is everything a mum would want from her boy and she is everything he needs. Of course the relationship between Connell and Marianne, I could not love them any more than I do. And actually her relationship with her family I, maybe not enjoyed, but felt a lot of value in. It gave her depth and also highlighted how vulnerable the 'not so vulnerable' truly are. To look again at others and to remind people to check in on their friends. And then check in again.
I am not sure what it is that is stopping me from giving this book a 5 star review. It had everything I love about a book, the difficult topics, the emotion and characters I really enjoyed. I am worried it is maybe all of the attention it is currently receiving that maybe I was expecting more? But what 'more' I am unsure. Either way I can now watch the series with the peace of mind that I have read the book first, and enjoy watching this book come to life.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Pages - 273
Goodreads rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
