The first time I ever read “Normal People” was in 2020 during the pandemic. In an effort to try new things and build a hobby, I picked up reading again. Normal people among other books, marked the begining of my journey back into literature. I only made it to about chapter 5 before I lost interest. The book was not engaging or interesting to me at the time. However, let’s be honest, life was not engaging nor was it interesting during the pandemic.
For some reason, however, I had hope in the book. So I added it back to my reading list hoping to find my way back to it whenever I did.
PRO TIP: Being an avid reader now, I can tell you this. If you find it hard to commit to a book because reading it does not jolt your attention, listen to it using any audiobook platform.
Libby is a great platform that provides FREE audiobooks through your public library. Or you could try Audible (if you have extra money to spend).
Did the book meet my expectations?
I found myself engaged the second time around, with growth and the passage of time, I came to appreciate the artistry behind Sally Rooney’s Normal People. The book was not born out of convenience as it has a lot of deep thoughts behind it. I loved it even though it is not a thriller nor is it an African or an Adichie book.
(you will come to realize that I belong to the cult of thriller, Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie and dare I say Colleen Hoover Books).
A brief synopsis of the book
Normal People centers around Marianne, an Irish secondary school girl who does not fit in with her peers. She has no friends and she struggles to make connections with people. Marianne befriends Connell, the popular son of her housekeeper, despite the differences in their social statuses.
Their friendship turned into a sexual relationship which was undefined and nothing but sexual (or so they said). However, the relationship soon fizzled due to their social hierarchy.
Their paths did not cross again until college (university) when the dynamic between them shifted. Marianne was now popular and Coonell was the struggling loser.
Over time, they drifted back together, ending other romantic relationships and rekindling their undefined yet deeply intertwined connection.
It lasted a while but ended abruptly. Both of them found new partners but a cycle kept repeating itself. They would move on, lose contact with each other, and gain contact again and it’s like some sort of magnet is pulling them away from their new partners and towards each other.
If you would like to read the book and you hate spoilers, do not scroll beyond this point, because below is my review.
My thoughts on the book
The book is great, maybe even beyond great. It tells the story of how life intertwines and no matter how much we as humans try to deny things or disregard our emotions, what will be will be.
It further expresses the idea of love as a powerful emotion. I learnt that love is beyond what is seen at first sight or built over time. Sometimes love can be unknown and thus misconstrued. It can appear to be a form of obsession or a border between dominance and submission.
Remember, love is near perfect, if not perfect and cannot engulf any negativity. But human beings are negative beings and often try to entertain the idea that love is pain or love should be pain, no it should not. Love can be a lot of things but love should not feel like pain not to talk of in itself be pain.
Not trying to be solipsistic but I think the character Marianne mirrors a part of me. The part that believes that she is unlovable and even when loved that part that believes it won’t last or worse, it will hurt. The part of me that gets extremely lonely when I think of companionship.
A part of me enjoys the sexual nature of the book. Diverging from the book into my self-concept surrounding sex and having it. I feel like as a lady you can get so much out of a man just from having sex with him. You can get a lot of access to him especially if it is not casual but comes out of a place of love. In this book, sex is always a defining moment for Mariane and Connell.
If you get squeamish or hate reading provocative content, beware as the book is kind of explicit.
Are the main characters loveable?
I loved Connell I loved that he was man enough to seek introspection into who he was, what he loved and why he loved it. He was never blindly in love and when truly in love, he loved heavily, turning a blind eye to everything else.
He sought help when he needed it, not too engulfed in his masculinity to see help as what is it, help, rather than a pry into his ego. I loved that he made mistakes and he learnt from them. I appreciate that regardless of what happens to him or how it happens, he always found his way back to what he loved, which in almost every instance is Marianne.
I have a certain fondness for Mariane as well, she did not always know what she wanted out of life, but she had the resilience to keep pushing. She is not always shy to let things go to find them again. She lost Connell, or rather they lost each other multiple times which could have been finite, but they always found their way back to each other.
The book normal people expressed how much violence or trauma can shape your being exponentially. How much it can affect your physical (sexual) desires as well as how much it shapes your self-concept. How you interpret connections and ultimately your day-to-day thoughts, emotions and feelings. Due to Marianne’s traumatic childhood, she viewed relationships to power from an imbalanced state and so for her to be in any form of relationship, she needs to be dominated which Connell obviously did not agree with.
A lot of mistakes in the form of poorly thought-out decisions were made in Connell and Marianne’s youth. Connell especially thought his youth would last forever so he became extra conscious of how he acted, when he acted and whom he allowed to be seen with him. He grew up to realize that secondary school (high school) is only a figment of who he is.
Conclusion
Dear reader, never say never, because the world is dysfunctional, and the inhabitants are equally dysfunctional. The world is like a river and the people in it are like water flowing at the frequency of connection and desire. If they are meant to be yours, they will flow back to you the same way you are flowing back to them.
You are perfect regardless of what you have been through, what you are going through, and what you will go through. You are you and someone will love you for you. You are here now, living now so please be happy for now. And finally, whoever you are and wherever you go, your perfect match will find you. Do not sweat it.
The season “Normal People” is best read
I read this book during the spring.
I think it should be read in the springtime or mid-late fall.
When life is chilly, not cold,
When life is warm, not hot.
When life is beautiful, not pretty.
When everything regrows or dies.
When everything dies or regrows.
When life begins to take meaning to it.
Rating.
Normal people is an S tier 7/10.