I heard a lot about the book ‘Normal People’ in 2023, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to read it. So, I have decided to read it in 2024. It’s a story about an unlikely couple who grow and thrive together. I was unaware that it was already adapted into a series on Hulu when I started reading it. However, people who have watched the series and read the book suggest that it is still worth reading.
About Normal People
Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins.
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 at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And 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.
Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.
My Review of Normal People
Normal People is one of the books I selected to read in my 24 for 2024 book reading challenge. I had seen so many book bloggers recommend this book throughout 2023, that I couldn’t ignore it as an option to read.
I am married to a man who is the polar opposite of me in so many ways, so I felt I was going to fully relate to the characters in the book. In many ways, I did. But in our situation, my husband was the one who was kept a secret throughout my high school years. I have always been the one who didn’t feel I deserved his love for me.
Normal People is hard to read due to the lack of proper punctuation throughout the book. While I’m no grammar queen by any stretch of the imagination, hence why I still have not written a book myself, I was impressed that this book has done so absolutely well in the market.
While I wasn’t in love with this book, I can say it is still entertaining if you can overlook the lack of punctuation. It is a good book to read for killing time. I personally give it a 3 star rating.
The below review puts this book into a true perspective in my eyes:
4.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly MovingReviewed in the United States on August 11, 2022
Here is one instance in which having seen the series before reading the book was NOT a conflict. The Hulu series almost completely honored the content and format of the book. The advantage of the book was understanding the thoughts going through the characters’ minds in their moments of silent examination of one another. I really enjoyed the series, and I enjoyed the book even more. As is nearly always the case, the book offers more depth to the characters, but I think the casting was perfect and it was gratifying to see a book and a series so in line with one another.
Anyway, this is a review about the book, not the show. I’ve seen some unflattering reviews that say the book is meaningless and fluffy drivel, and that the characters are flat and dull. I wholeheartedly disagree. I think that the characters and the story successfully convey what it means to feel isolated and different. They’re not lively and bubbly because the book is all about being abnormal and unable to fit in. The whole point is that they are people who don’t fall into many of the facets of standard social norms and therefore they cling to each other and keep going back to each other throughout the years.
Rooney covers topics of mental, physical and sexual abuse with discretion and respect, and never once makes it exploitative for the sake of conflict and building tension. I love that she doesn’t use the standard form of dialogue with breaks and quotation marks. I’ve seen some complaints about that stylistic choice, but I think it was the perfect choice for a book about people who are so much in their own heads and unable to properly convey themselves to anyone but each other. I’ve also seen some complaints about Rooney’s prose, or lack thereof. I’m flabbergasted by that. There are some bits that are nearly poetic in their beauty, and some bits that so perfectly capture the human condition and the frail psyche of the depressed and downtrodden.
It was not a perfect book, but it’s one that I would confidently recommend and likely one that I will read again.
On Amazon this is the ratings it has earned:
Customer reviews
4.1 out of 5
118,514 global ratings
To See The Other 24 Books in 2024, Click on the Image:
At first I was intrigued by the book from your review, as all my relationships have been with opposites. But it sounds too fluffy for me!
LOL! This wasn’t one of my favorite books. The series on Hulu does make it more exciting, but still not enough for me to be screaming go read this to the rooftops.
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