Cover Image: Normal People

Normal People

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Member Reviews

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Full review to be found on Goodreads and on my website.

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Slow paced book. Although I tend to enjoy books like Normal People, there were certain tropes that I didn't enjoy and somehow it felt lacking in real emotion.

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NORMAL PEOPLE is a novel about two young people and their on and off again love affair. Marianne and Connell attend the same high school in a small Irish village. Marianne’s family is well off and Connell’s mother is their cleaning lady. Marianne is highly intellectual but an outcast. Connell is also highly intellectual but popular amongst his peers. Both feel a mutual attraction and a physical relationship ensues. Connell is worried what his friends would say if they knew about Marianne so insists the relationship is kept a secret. The relationship ends towards the end of high school. Marianne and Connell both attend Trinity College in Dublin. Their roles have reversed in this new environment. Marianne is now the popular one with her peers and Connell feels like a fish out of water and finds it difficult to make friends. The couple reunite but continue to have relationship problems.
NORMAL PEOPLE was a sad story. While I was reading it the word melancholy kept coming to mind. The characters involved may have appeared outwardly to be “normal” but they struggled inwardly with their demons. The story was well written. The characters though troubled were intriguing. It is an interesting study of the dynamics of relationships and how as a person matures they realize the errors of their ways.
I think NORMAL PEOPLE would make an excellent book club pick.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read an advanced addition of NORMAL PEOPLE.

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I had heard several wonderful things about NORMAL PEOPLE, and it did not disappoint! I loved Rooney's unlikeable characters, and the sheer number of emotions her writing is able to take you through in so little time. This certainly lived up to the surrounding hype.

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I read this book in a day during a flight back home. I haven't read many books with unlikable protagonists, but the ones in this book are ones that I related to, and touched me deeply in some way. The characters in this book are very... human with their desires, pain, and actions and I felt every one of them.

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This book was absolutely stunning. I initially approached this title with some trepidation, as it was missing quotation marks, which can sometimes make the narrative challenging to follow, but in the case of this novel, it let the beautiful writing unfold seamlessly. The story was fast paced without being rushed, and packed in so much emotion. After reading this book, Sally Rooney has officially entered the ranks of my "I'll- read-anything-by-this-author-even-their-grocery-lists" list.

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I loved this book! Sally Rooney is a genius! This book will suck you in and it won’t spit you out till the last page! I think that you should go into this not knowing much expect that Sally Rooney is an amazing writer and that if you start this clear your schedule before hand!

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Oh, this book. This book! I loved it even though I found it to be frustrating. There's something weirdly addictive about Rooney's writing and she has an uncanny ear for dialogue. The characters are so real (which is where the frustration comes in... I wanted to yell at both of them). The ending destroyed me, but I will be thinking about it for a long time.

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This is one of the books I’ve enjoyed the most this year, and yet it’s the one I have the hardest time talking about. I flew through it in a haze, entranced by the awkward relationship between Marianne and Connell told in this matter-of-fact yet wistful language. The book follows the pair from their senior year in high school through university. Marianne was the weird one in high school while Connell was the popular jock, but in university their statuses flip, which they never fully recover from. I was emotional while reading this, at times rooting for them and at others wishing they would just say goodbye already. At first I resisted the style of dialogue without quotations (it’s still not my favourite, I find it pretentious) but it grew on me enough to let it go. Reading Normal People feels like you are getting the juicy inside gossip about a couple in your social circle without being involved.

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I had heard such good coments about this book and I had very high expectations. I have to admit I was a little bit disapointed. We follow the story of two people who are obviously struggling to find their place in the world because they are very different on a emotional level from every one else. The understand each other, and we follow the story of their friendship and love story. I liked it, It was very well written, but the ending disapointed me. I feel like It had no closure.

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I really enjoyed this novel. I felt the relationship between Marianne and Connell was what you expect from a John Hughes movie: a socially and economically mismatched pair like one another. The book begins with the pair in high school and follows them over the next several years. While the matching was typical, what they experienced through the book felt realistic, and was not about everything being perfect. Others have mentioned that the miscommunication bothered them, but isn't that real life? And let's be honest, most plot lines in books and movies would never happen if there wasn't miscommunication involved. While it may be annoying, it's also very human. If you like coming-of-age fiction, I recommend Normal People.

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this book was a RIDE.

while i haven't read sally rooney's first book "conversations with friends," i hear that this book is an elevated version of such. and boy, did it make me emotional.

for those who don't know, "normal people" follows marianne and connell, two high school students living in small town ireland who become close because connell's mum cleans marianne's giant house. from this, a secret relationship of sorts starts, and quickly ends.

the rest of the book jumps through time (sometimes as far as six month-long jumps) as we see where life takes these two young people. the conclusion is so heartbreaking but also so realistic -- what are the chances people from high school stay together in the end?

this book is also a really interesting look at trauma and the different ways it can manifest in our lives. marianne is seen for most of the book to be dealing and moving on from her longterm trauma in a healthy way. but what happens when that is repressed for so long? how does that impact our relationships with others, especially those we care about most?

very much looking forward to reading "conversations with friends" in the near future, and excited to see what else rooney has in store for us in the future.

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I loved this book even though it was sort of sad and depressing. Connell and Marianne's relationship is so flawed and angsty and so absolutely relate-able and normal all wrapped into one. I enjoyed their weird and wonderful love story and was hooked from the beginning even though I couldn't exactly explain why. I had to know how their futures would intersect. Excellent writing, I'll be picking up more of Sally Rooney.

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I was worried that Normal People wouldn't live up to the hype. People were singing Sally Rooney's praises for her prose. They hype was justified. Normal People is at turns tender and infuriating, warm fuzzies and icy sadness. I really don't have the words to properly describe how much I enjoyed this book but I will suggest you pick up a copy to see for yourself the world Rooney has created for Connell and Marianne.

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I was very excited to get Normal People to read on NetGalley. I was intrigued last year by this title when it was nominated for the Man Booker longlist but it wasn't available in Canada at that point.

Marianne is well off, and Connell is the son of Marianne's family's housekeeper in Sligo, Ireland. They begin seeing each other in high school, where Connell is cool and Marianne is not, so it begins in secret. They carry on together well into university in Dublin, but never officially, and never out in the open. They have a hold on each other, and fill a void that each needs. Not the healthiest of relationships, and yet, I hoped they could figure it out. Like electric charges periodically getting closer and then moving away, their ultimate trajectory is toward each other. Nothing in particular drives the plot, just the characters growing and developing. I liked the writing, the inner musings, and how Connell and Marianne helped each other. Like normal people do.

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This book takes place over the span of a couple years with the main characters Marianne and Connell. Marianne and Connell have a rollercoaster of a relationship and are growing together in their teen years. I feel all kinds of feels about this book. I think the on again off again relationship that Marianne and Connell have is relatable to a lot of people that age. I found I was frustrated with the characters and the decisions they made through certain parts of the book. This story really broke my heart. I was really confused at some parts of the book not being able to tell who was speaking in a conversation. I totally get it was the writing style it just took away from of my attention from the book to focus on talking. This is a really nice book that is relatable for high school ages and early 20s.

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I was not very generous with my review of Conversations with Friends, which was Sally Rooney’s previous novel. But I must admit that I liked this one a whole lot more. Rooney really gets into the heads of her characters. Her novels are angsty and introspective. I couldn’t relate to the characters in Conversations with Friends, and I just couldn’t get interested in their inner turmoil and interpersonal dynamics. But the characters in Normal People interested me far more. The story focuses on Marianne and Connell. It starts when they are teenagers in a small town in western Ireland, and it follows them to university in Dublin. They are both complex characters, whose efforts to communicate and connect keep misfiring. They come from different class backgrounds and have very different family lives — both factors that play a big role in who they are and how they connect and don’t connect. Rooney’s writing seems effortless, yet she conveys a lot through few words and brief interactions. Because of the age of the characters, at times the novel felt like sophisticated YA fiction — which is not a criticism as far as I’m concerned, but it might be a turn off for readers who like more mature characters. I’m glad I gave Rooney another try. I’ll be looking forward to her next book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

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Normal People is the story of the relationship of Connell and Marianne, two young adults who attend the same high school and then university. This relationship is for the most part dysfunctional.

I really wanted to connect with this book but found it extremely challenging. The book tended jump back and forth in time within a chapter without really informing the reader which I found confusing. I also found the book depressing and really laboured to get through it . This is likely due to a mismatch between myself and the plot. On a positive note, the book does shine light on mental illness (particularly anxiety and depression) and the author’s background in psychology is highlighted.

Please note: I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review which I have provided here.

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Happy Canadian publication day to Normal People (April 16, 2019)!

3.5 stars.

Have you ever read a book that you simultaneously enjoyed and disliked? That was my experience with Normal People, which follows two characters, Marianne and Connell, through their last year of high school and their four years of university. Despite their differences and the opinions of those around them, Marianne and Connell have an undeniable connection with each other, which causes them to have a rather tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship. Neither of them are particularly likeable characters, and their relationship was incredibly frustrating – I found myself rooting for them on one page, and wishing they would just move on in the next. Although I am their age, I am lucky enough to have never experienced a relationship like theirs, as I have been in a steady relationship with my high school sweetheart for the past seven years. I know from the relationships of my friends, however, that Marianne and Connell’s relationship is not abnormal, so although I was frustrated with the constant miscommunication, insecurity, and unnecessary breakups, I applaud Rooney for capturing it so genuinely. I thought she also did a fantastic job of capturing the mental health of these two characters, and the way that social expectations can weigh on and influence individuals.

I loved Rooney’s writing style, the switch between Marianne’s and Connell’s perspectives, and the structure of each chapter, which always started with one scenario and effortlessly switched to another before returning to the first. However, given the nature of Marianne and Connell’s relationship, I did find that the writing became a bit repetitive. I was hoping that the two of them would grow more throughout the book, although perhaps their lack of growth is more reflective of real life.

I am left with conflicted feelings about this book. I think I liked it, but I’m not sure. I think I understood the point of it, but again, I’m not sure. I am sure, however, that I will pick up Rooney’s other work, as her writing was captivating!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada/Knopf Canada for providing me with an eARC of Normal People in exchange for an honest review.

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I read 100 pages of this book and then decided to DNF it.

Apologies to the publisher and Netgalley who sent this to me in exchange for an honest review.

But I didn't care about anything that was happening, and it seemed like it wasn't really going anywhere, story-wise. I realize that this is incredibly popular and well-received so I feel in the minority here, but I do have to give my honest opinion and that's it. I don't think this book is for me.

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