A review by librarymouse
Normal People by Sally Rooney

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm writing my review of Normal People before I decide on a rating, in the hopes that it'll help me sort out my thoughts on the book. The progressions of Marianne and Connell's emotional wellbeing in relation to years at university was uncannily accurate to my own experiences and that of what I saw in my friends and classmates. The quality of the writing in the large middle section of the book that describes the social contentment and complete security in herself that Marianne feels her first year of university, only for the group to crumble and the bubble to burst completely, leaving her stranded and struggling to understand her place in the world felt raw, tangible, and familiar. Marianne and Connell's internal lives playing such a strong role in the story telling made it a unique and enjoyable readings experience. It allows the reader to get inside their heads and try to under how the miscommunications that tore them apart came to be. That change took what is usually a comedy trope and inverted it towards tragedy.
Connell's confession that he was trying to ask Marianne to let him stay the summer was heart wrenching. I didn't like to see the complete degradation of Marianne's character and inner life, but with the way she was struggling, it is realistic. Her supposed need to be hurt being revealed to be a warped perception of her need to feel special, loved, and protected was heart breaking. The meticulous control she expresses over her food intake and her hitting her breaking point in the photography studio show her shattering, but not having any idea how to pick up the pieces. I did enjoy that there was a gradual shift towards and then away from suicidal ideation and meticulously controlled disordered eating for Connell and Marianne. There wasn't a quick fix for either issue offered up in the book, but they were there for each other and their gradual growth in their respective mental health was really well written. I am frustrated by the ending of this book, not for the possibility of their romance being doomed, but because in the last few pages there was another moment of the acknowledged toxic perspective that men just want sex and aren't capable of higher thinking/needs in Marianne's accusing Connell of loving Darcy. It also frustrated me how closely Marianne resembles the manic pixie dream girl trope at the end of the novel, when she was such a robust character at the beginning. With Marianne's sexual promiscuity, Peggy's focus on both Marianne and non monogamy, and Peggy and Jamie's shared terrible character traits, I was convinced that Peggy and Jamie were going to try to both date Marianne and/or sexually take advantage of her. In a way they did.

The casual way sex is discussed between character is distinctly foreign to American readers, and the freedom afforded by it that isn't really a part of American purity culture made the novel an interesting read as it shifted from familiar to foreign and back again.

Normal People is going to be a book I cherish in the future, but in the way a classic is cherished. The writing was magnificent and I was enthralled by the plot.
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