Normal People by Sally Rooney

 

Normal People

by Sally Rooney

Normal People follows Marianne and Connell as they navigate relationships, with one another and with their families and friends, as they go from high school through college.

Marianne is a quiet, intelligent, rich girl whose mother and brother treat her like she believes she's better than everyone. They despise her for this. Her brother is abusive, her mother narcissistic.

Connell lives with his mother in council housing. He is well-liked at school, though he is also relatively quiet. He plays sports and socializes regularly. His mother works for Marianne's family as a cleaner. Though Marianne is "the weird girl," Connell is fascinated by her and often speaks to her while he waits for his mother to finish her work.

The two teens, getting ready to end their high school careers and choose a college, strike up a secret sexual relationship. Marianne is sworn by Connell to keep it a secret, openly stating that his reputation would be ruined if anyone found out. Marianne gladly keeps the secret. In fact, she would do anything Connell ever asked her, or told her, to do. But it isn't just Connell she would submit to.

When the two decide to attend the same university they find their roles reversed. The two lost touch before high school ended because of a situation with Marianne and her classmates. Reuniting in college, Connell finds that Marianne is now the popular one, while he flounders with social anxiety and has a hard time fitting in at uni. When they meet again they resume their sort-of-secret sexual affair as Marianne and Connell both continue to date other people. They seem to have a connection, a need for one another that they are unwilling to sacrifice.

Connell learns that Marianne has been allowing her boyfriends the same freedoms she gave to him, but in a more sordid way, which tells us that Marianne for some reason wants to give up control to men, to be used by them. And this is the point where Marianne lost me.

In the beginning of the book I could really identify with Marianne, with being on the fringes and somewhat overlooked, but being okay with that, knowing that something better lay beyond high school. I wanted her to be a stronger person. I felt very little growth in her character and I was saddened by that. Connell gets to change his life, though never truly letting Marianne go. But she stays behind and says she'll wait for him. Basically giving all of her power away. Connell thinks she's special, but she never believes she is.

This is a story about young relationships, how hard it is to say what you think, feel, and what, afraid of being misunderstood and when you are misunderstood not knowing how to correct those misunderstandings. It's a story about insecurities, identity, social status, how those concepts distort relationships, and how all of those things become confused and muddled as we mature. It's about the assumptions we make about people we think we know, and the assumptions they make about us and what we do with that information.

It wasn't my favorite book, but the writing was not bad. The characters were not my favorite, either. I was invested in finding out how it turned out, was glad to see they didn't get together as a couple in the end, but I was left wanting more from the story. Marianne's weakness really brought it down for me in this age of female empowerment and "wokeness." I give Normal People 3 stars.