Normal People: A Novel
NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - "A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships" (People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, "a master of the literary page-turner" (J. Courtney Sullivan). "[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting."--The Washington Post ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson 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. WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country
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Community Reviews
Hopefully I'll rewrite this review when it's not close to midnight on a day when I've been up since 6 a.m.. This book is about two people drawn to each other, but totally unaware of how to be vulnerable enough to make their relationship work. They can do the physical part, but never get the communicaton part down. In the telling of it from the two viewpoints, we learn that they have continually interpreted each other's statements in a wrong way. It's the kind of thing that those of us with low self-esteem do all the time. I want to shake them and tell them to just put it all out there, that if they both do that, it'll all be okay. But it's not going to be. There is no way that Marianne can tell him all of the terrible things that have happened to her. There's no way for her to tell him that she's so abused, so broken that she's totally messed up. And frankly, he can't fix her. He can be there for her, but she needs someone who is NOT a lover, not a friend, to dump it all on. She needs someone who will understand that she's going through crap, but doesn't let her turn him into her therapist. And there is not therapist character in this book, so she will never be fixed. But maybe she's better, and the ending is sufficient for us to root for the ultimate ending we want, like when Gone With The Wind ends and we all have our own opinions of whether or not Scarlett gets Rhett back or not.
Read this at some point, but it got too boring so I didn't finish.
I thought there was something wrong with my book, but I found out it was written intentionally without quotations, which is a big no.
Don't think i'll be picking it up again.
I thought there was something wrong with my book, but I found out it was written intentionally without quotations, which is a big no.
Don't think i'll be picking it up again.
Having taught high school students, I admire Rodney's accurate depiction of 2 teens. A complex coming of age novel with a profound examination of a relationship.
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