A review by mattyvreads
Normal People by Sally Rooney

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The book is everything I wanted Elif Batuman’s The Idiot to be, but unlike that book, this book really delivered for me. I was totally engrossed in the story and completely enthralled by these best friends’
(lovers’)
dynamic. Sally Rooney is such a powerful writer and her prose is exquisite. 

I love how she structures her story: linear vignettes and flashbacks which tell us so much about each character — how they think, how they choose to behave. It is devastating, beautiful, and profound. 

Rooney illustrates how quickly a relationship can change, and inversely, how long it can remain the same. This book is absolutely tragic in parts, as each chapter is punctuated by some missed connection or tragic misunderstanding between our two protagonists.

I love the ending of this book. Throughout the book, we see this couple that “should work” due uncomplicated, unconditional love, and yet circumstantially, each party is in a mismatched phase of their lives and independent journeys.

They are like an almost-circle, drawn out, but whose end never meets its point of origin. They are so close to be aligned, and never can settle comfortably due to where they are in their lives.

Of course it needed to end with another missed connection and misunderstanding.


This book is really well-written and quite brilliant. I am excited to re-read. Salley Rooney is such a good writer, she actually made me care about a straight relationship. That says everything.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings