Mini Review- Normal People by Sally Rooney

Am I normal or not?

Deep sighs and deeper confusion because that was all I was doing reading this book.

Never have I been in a reading slump this bad. Since Adanna, I’ve picked up four books and dropped every one. Nothing hit. They were either too draggy, too dull, or just downright frustrating. My most recent attempt was Normal People by Sally Rooney — a book that made me seriously question if I was the abnormal one.

For starters, I didn’t finish the book. I couldn’t. I was too overwhelmed — mostly by the characters and their infuriating inability to just talk to each other. Still, I appreciate Sally Rooney for subtly addressing topics like Palestine and Syria as early as 2018, before they were widely discussed. That alone deserves respect.

SYNOPSIS

At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.

A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other

I must confess, the synopsis got me hooked just like the beginning of the book

WARNING!! SPOILERISED RANTS AHEAD!!

CHARACTERS

Marianne Sheridan

I really liked Marianne at the beginning for about the first three to four pages when she boldly told Connell she liked him. I felt sympathetic toward her after seeing how Connell and the entire school treated her, and the revelation of her family history added more layers to her character. Her courage to start afresh at Trinity is the feature I love for any character, the ability to bounce back but unfortunately, that’s all there is to liking her. Her inability to communicate her feelings was incredibly frustrating, and her constant self-sabotaging behavior made her difficult to root for. While she was definitely an annoying main character, I’ll admit she was complex — I have to give her that, at least in a decently intriguing way

Connell Waldron

Connell… what can I say about him? I don’t like him in the slightest, but I do respect his struggles as a person. He was sleeping with Marianne but was too ashamed to acknowledge their relationship publicly (not even admitting that he liked her), the status difference between Marianne and him. I could excuse his earlier behavior as “typical” dumb-teenager behavior, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was hurtful and cowardly. He had his own internal battles, sure, but that doesn’t excuse the emotional damage he caused along the way.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

I expected a lot from this book, especially considering its good reviews, but sadly, it just didn’t do it for me. I genuinely believe “Normal People” had the potential to be a powerful psychological romance, but it lost its momentum in the endless cycle of toxic escapades between the main characters. Despite all my complaints, I have to admit — my favorite part was the shift in dynamics: the outcast became the diva, and the school's golden boy faded into the background. That irony hit.

While Normal People had moments of brilliance, its refusal to let the characters grow beyond their chronic miscommunication turned what could’ve been a moving story into a frustrating loop of what-could-have-beens.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve read the book and how you felt about it — maybe I’m not actually normal after all. Anyway, I desperately need a good book recommendation, guys!!