Normal People

Normal People and over 2 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Normal People Hardcover – 30 Aug This item:Normal People by Sally Rooney Hardcover £
Table of contents

A Is about young people B Is a love story but not a romance C Contains a fair bit of sex which is crucial to the story, btw, and is n Sally Rooney is the real deal Normal People has been lavished with praise from critics, longlisted for the Man Booker prize and is apparently being adapted for television by the BBC. A Is about young people B Is a love story but not a romance C Contains a fair bit of sex which is crucial to the story, btw, and is not graphic All of which possibly also the fact that the author is a year-old woman mean that Normal People will inevitably be dismissed by some as frivolous.

This is a confident, accomplished and serious work. Well, Normal People cuts to the core. Normal People is not out to inspire, instruct, entertain or talk down to anyone, which makes it something of a refreshing anomaly in current fiction about young people. It is a novel for anyone, young or old that simply presents the truth of youthful experiences without the filters of nostalgia or sentimentality. It invites you to inhabit the psyche of someone else — two someone elses: Connell and Marianne — to identify with them and to feel their pain and turmoil. For the reader who connects to that, it is wracking.

The story focuses only on the pivotal moments for these two characters, jumping forward three weeks, six months, or five minutes, as needed, to excise all the uneventful bits of life and leave us with the most emotionally intense supercut possible. It follows them from high school in a small town, through their years at university in Dublin, as the dynamic between them shifts with their surroundings and social circle. Sally Rooney writes with such precision that this all feels painfully true.

She conjures the tension and emotion in a scene just from the way someone wrings out a dish sponge; she conveys the full weight of feeling from a look or a shrug. No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not.

In addition to the central relationship are issues of class, intellectual integrity, and a particularly astute look at the rebuild of self that teenagers undergo in the transition from school to uni, how it allows some to thrive while others stumble, and in some ways is just an illusion after all. View all 12 comments. Sep 09, Portal in the Pages rated it it was amazing. Goddamit Sally Rooney and now I'm crying. Jul 24, Hugh rated it really liked it Shelves: Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize This will probably be the last book I read from this year's longlist unless Snap or Sabrina are shortlisted.

I have been hearing great things about Sally Rooney since her name got a number of glowing recommendations in last year's end-of-year reviews, but I only got round to reading her first novel Conversations with Friends last week. I was impressed by that, so my expectations for this one were very high. I found the first couple of chapters a little fl Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize This will probably be the last book I read from this year's longlist unless Snap or Sabrina are shortlisted.

I found the first couple of chapters a little flat, but once the characters were established, the rest of the book became a compelling read, and I couldn't resist finishing the whole book in a single day. Like Conversations With Friends, this one is at heart a love story, but it is far from being a sentimental romance. At the start of the book in a time of economic depression after the "Celtic Tiger" boom , Marianne is a loner, an outcast in her final year at school from a rich view spoiler [ and as becomes clear later abusive hide spoiler ] family in a small town in Mayo.

Connell is the son of their cleaner a young single mother , and a popular star of the school football team. Both are very intelligent, and they develop a clandestine relationship. Marianne persuades Connell to follow her to Trinity College in Dublin, where most of the rest of the book is set over a four year period. In Dublin their roles are reversed - Marianne finds friends quickly but Connell finds it difficult due to class snobbery.

Their relationship is a complex one, and the book explores their inner worlds intensely, and like Conversations with Friends this takes them to some pretty dark places - Marianne has a masochistic streak and is attracted to sadistic bullies, while Connell escapes his depression to find some redemption as a writer which allows Rooney to make some playfully acerbic comments about the literary world.

As in Conversations with Friends the second half of the book is darker and deeper than the first, view spoiler [and the ending has an element of ambiguity hide spoiler ]. The writing is sharp and witty throughout, and Rooney's ability to inhabit her characters is very impressive. This book is definitely worthy of shortlisting, and could yet be a potential Booker winner. View all 10 comments. Aug 25, Gumble's Yard rated it really liked it Shelves: Longlisted for the Man Booker — and the only book published after the longlist was announced, and so the last I came to read a month and 2 days after the announcement.

The other books on the longlist draw on wider elements: In my view the author largely succeeds and, much to my surprise, this is one of my favourite books on the longlist. Connell and Marianne attend the same school — Connell quietly popular, Marianne widely shunned for her perceived eccentricity — but the two have two links: The two start a tentative sexual and covert relationship and both apply successfully for Trinity where their relative status is turned on its head and more in line with their social status — Connell struggling with the simultaneous vacuity and confidence of his fellow students, and Marianne thriving.

The book which moves forwards in unevenly spaced chapters which are dated and title for example Three Months Later, chapters which are told form alternating third party viewpoints and which often look back on key events since the last chapter and more particularly on the ever changing dynamic of the relationship between the two.

It seems to Connell that the same imagination he uses as a reader is necessary to understand real people also, and to be intimate with them.

'Normal People' author Sally Rooney on what normal means for Millennials | leondumoulin.nl

They were attended only by people who wanted to be the kind of people who attended them It was culture as class performance, literature fetished for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they made afterwards feel superior to the undereducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about Key themes examined in the book include: Class dynamics and social privilege; Masculinity and feminity — and the privileges and burdens of each; The aftermath of the end of the Celtic Tiger, and its economic and social effects on the millennial generation that reached adulthood after it, including their loss of faith in capitalism having already lost faith in the church ; Power dynamics and how these can alter across different social milieu; Fitting in and standing out — and how different people can adopt different positions over time; Intimacy and independence ; Self-image and its interaction with abusive relationships and with depression.

Despite its many differences, this book is again simply a young author writing with a fresh new voice about in this case two young characters experiencing an even older story — how does friendship translate into love and how can you really know the mind of someone else. Albeit one with a dark undercurrent. Jane Austen for the millennial generation. One night the library started closing just as he reached the passage in Emma where it seems like Mr Knightly is going to marry Harriet, and he had to close the book and walk home in a state of strange emotional agitation ………….

It feels intellectually unserious to concern himself with fictional people marrying one another. But there it is — literature moves him. And there it is — this book moved me. View all 9 comments. I have to admit I wasn't taken with Rooney's debut but I tried to read her second book with an open mind. An array of stereotypical women who just want to be loved and who always question their self-worth and the men are behaving as if straight out of a 'boys-will-be-boys'-movie. And the ending is just plain cheesy. View all 7 comments.

Sep 16, Peter Boyle rated it liked it Shelves: I wanted to like this book more than I did. How thrilling that the author hailed as "Salinger for the Snapchat generation" is Irish, and from my own province of Connacht at that. There are moments in this novel that would certainly back up such a bold claim. But I believe that she is a writer still honing her craft. Not quite the finished article just yet, but with all the potential to become a literary heavyweight.

Spread the word

In the beginning we meet Connell and Marianne, two young people growing up the we I wanted to like this book more than I did. In the beginning we meet Connell and Marianne, two young people growing up the west of Ireland. Marianne comes from a wealthy family and Connell's mother Lorraine is a cleaner in their lavish house.

At the start of the book, the pair are in their final year at school - Connell is a popular sports star while Marianne is a social outcast. They are close despite operating in completely different circles. Roles are reversed once they move to Dublin for college - Marianne falls in with a group who appreciate her wit and intelligence, and a taciturn Connell finds it difficult to make friends. The story follows their on-off relationship over the years - they go from being pals, to more than that, to who knows?

They are a huge part of one another's lives, no matter what their romantic status. Rooney is strong on the intricacies of relationships - how the influence of one person can shape another person's whole life, and how little misunderstandings can snowball into major heartbreak. At one point Connell discovers that becoming part of a couple can even validate one's existence: For one, Marianne's family despise her, yet we are given no reason for this.

The actions of her brother Alan, in particular, become more ridiculous as the story goes on, and without proper context they just feel ludicrous. And I'm afraid I found the dialogue quite flat at times. For two people like Marianne and Connell, who know each other so well, I kept thinking, is this how they would really speak to each other? Their exchanges are so earnest and dry. For example, there's one part where they are about to have sex after missing one other for so long, and the atmosphere is charged. Marianne says that she wants this so much, and Connell goes: I'm going to switch the TV off, if that's OK.

There were many aspects of the book I really admired. It's just that when I see publications like The Guardian declaring Normal People a "future classic", I expect a bit more from it. I do think that Sally Rooney is massively talented, and her gifts of observation and empathy will serve her very well in her career. She may have the literary world at her feet right now, but I reckon her best work is yet to come. Peter Boyle Richard wrote: Sep 16, Peter Boyle Peter wrote: I know what you mean, I want to love this book so much but haven't read it yet.

I wonder myself if h Peter wrote: I wonder myself if hadn't been aware of all the hype surrounding this book, would I have been so critical? But even though I found fault with this one, I'm eager to read whatever Sally Rooney does next. Mar 02, Sarah Jean rated it it was amazing. I inhaled this book. I love the cast of normal people her exceptional mind creates. View all 3 comments. Sep 08, Rebecca Foster rated it liked it Shelves: So I jumped at the chance to read her follow-up novel, especially after it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Alas, though, I was let down.

The central characters here are two loners: Marianne and Connell start hooking up during high school in Carricklea, but Connell keeps their relationship a secret because Marianne is perceived as strange and unpopular. The novel, which takes place between and , keeps going back and forth in time by weeks or months, jumping forward and then filling in the intervening time with flashbacks. I kept waiting for more to happen, skimming ahead to see if there would be anything more to it than drunken college parties and frank sex scenes.

I can see what Rooney is trying to do here she makes it plain in the next-to-last paragraph: But page to page it is pretty tedious, and fairly unsubtle.


  • Related Quotes?
  • Product details;
  • Search form.
  • Hotter Than Hell (The Hollows)?
  • 'Normal People' author Sally Rooney on what normal means for Millennials.
  • Neuropathology Review.
  • Normal People by Sally Rooney?

I was interested to learn that Rooney was writing this at the same time as Conversations , and initially intended it to be short stories. Cheri This sounds like it was a little disappointing, Rebecca! Sep 11, Rebecca Foster Cheri wrote: Yet this one seems to be getting even better reviews. It makes me wonder what I'm missing. Sep 15, Lee Monks rated it really liked it. Rachel Cusk meets Colm Toibin. I think I underestimated it. Sally Rooney is a special talent. I keep thinking about this one too.

Lee Monks Very powerful stuff. Could it even win? And I reckon it could! I wouldn't be mad if it did Aug 29, Neil rated it liked it Shelves: It was only recently that I got round to reading Rooney's first book Conversations With Friends and that was really only because I was waiting for this one to be published so that I could finish my reading of the Man Booker long list. So, I approached this one in a hopeful mood: I expected it to be better than CWF and thought there was a good chance I w It was only recently that I got round to reading Rooney's first book Conversations With Friends and that was really only because I was waiting for this one to be published so that I could finish my reading of the Man Booker long list.

I expected it to be better than CWF and thought there was a good chance I would really like it. One out of two isn't too bad, is it? For my tastes, this book is far, far better than CWF.

Normal People

Perhaps this is because it is much more tightly focused on just two characters rather than the larger group in the first book. We follow Connell and Marianne through their on-again-off-again relationship that is never truly off but seems to struggle to be truly on. Both have their struggles and their issues that they battle with and we do get to see a lot of their inner worlds. Initially, you think the book is going to be simple to follow as each chapter is headed with details of how long after the previous chapter it is and which month of which year it is therefore set in.

But then a lot of the story is told in flashback, so you do have to keep aware. Helpfully, most of the "now" stuff is narrated in present tense and the flashbacks in past tense. Like CWF and like an awful lot of other books , this book gets darker as it progresses. And, also like a lot of other books, I felt it improved as it went along. Indeed, at one point towards the end Marianne asks Connell a question and it made me cry!

But, I think that as you get to know Marianne, it starts to make some sense. I would certainly caution the heterosexual men reading the book to not take it as helpful advice for talking to girls. So, why only three stars? I find it bounces from the banal: The kettle comes to the boil. Lorraine sweeps the line of hairpins into the palm of her hand, closes her fist around them and pockets them. She gets up then, fills the cup of tea, adds milk, and puts the bottle back in the fridge. She feels pleasurably crushed under the weight of his power over her, the vast ecstatic depth of her will to please him.


  • The Black Place Inside.
  • Solution Techniques for Elementary Partial Differential Equations, Second Edition (Chapman Hall/CRC .
  • Normal People - Sally Rooney - - Allen & Unwin - Australia.
  • Customers who bought this item also bought!
  • Normal People | Sally Rooney | Granta.

Somewhere in-between would be great. And, to be fair, there is stuff in that in-between zone. I also began to wonder if Rooney has a colour vision issue. We have "chlorine-white" and we have "Raincoats glistening in the undersea colour of street lamps" as examples. View all 4 comments. Jul 08, Jaclyn Crupi rated it really liked it. Rooney is probably the most popular example of the incredible rising stars of Irish lit. There are so many great young Irish writers you simply have to be reading and Rooney is clearly leading the charge.

Sep 04, Maddie C. I prefer her debut to this one but the consistency in her writing and the themes she explores make her and her works a landmark to understanding our current generation -- which can be misinterpreted as very many things according to the media, most of them not good but, mostly I think what makes me and many other people in my generation connect with Rooney is the subtlety of her writing and the nuances of dread and bleakness she puts into everyday situations, in particular human relations.

The outside world touches against her outside skin, but not the other part of herself, inside. We are social beings and, as such, it is impossible to detach ourselves from our family, our friends, how they influence and shape us. And Sally Rooney takes this complex topic and makes it fresh and profound: In this book in particular, it becomes a specially important moment of relevance to one of the characters.

Sep 16, Eric Anderson rated it it was amazing. Sally Rooney is a writer that stands out as the voice of young Ireland. The natural milieu of her characters are intellectual college educated women and men in their teens and twenties. While this runs the risk of appearing to have a parochial view of the world, it moreov Sally Rooney is a writer that stands out as the voice of young Ireland. While this runs the risk of appearing to have a parochial view of the world, it moreover reads as emotionally honest and engaging in a way that few writers can pull off.

This new novel is the story of Marianne and Connell who come from very different socio-economic backgrounds. Connell's mother works as a cleaner at Marianne's family home. The differences in class seem an inconsequential part of their relationship at first, but as they get older it has more of an effect on how they connect to each other. The story charts the staggered journey of their bond from to You can read this novel for the insights it gives into modern life and the plight of a section of an emerging generation, but it's moreover a modern romance which meaningfully engages the reader in the characters' growth as individuals and tantalizes with the question: Sep 15, Sunita rated it liked it Shelves: I wasn't looking forward to this Booker longlist novel, but I was impressed despite myself.

I thought it was going to be new adult written as lit fic, but that assumption was way off. The novel doesn't always work, but I found it thought-provoking and often very insightful. Click here Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. View or edit your browsing history. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Not Enabled Word Wise: Not Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Would you like to report this content as inappropriate?

Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. Amazon Restaurants Food delivery from local restaurants. ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics. East Dane Designer Men's Fashion. Behind her the others are laughing.

She can hear them. Without turning around, Marianne walks out the door, lets it slam behind her. She walks a few steps towards a door on the left and then puts her back against the wall and starts sliding down towards a seated position on the floor. Her breast is aching where that man grabbed it. Up the hall the door comes open again and Karen comes out, with Eric and Rachel and Connell following. They see Marianne on the floor and Karen runs over to her while the other three stay standing where they are, not knowing what to do maybe, or not wanting to do anything.

Karen hunches down in front of Marianne and touches her hand. Here, look, it was just a bit of fun, says Eric. At this Karen snaps around and looks at them. Why are you even out here if you think it was so funny? His face is flushed now, and he touches a hand to his brow. Everyone is still watching him. Karen and Eric exchange a look then, eyes wide, Marianne can see them.

Connell never speaks or acts like this in school. In all these years she has never seen him behave at all aggressively, even when taunted. Rachel just tosses her head and walks back inside the club. The door falls shut heavily on its hinges. Connell continues rubbing his brow for a second. Then Connell looks at Marianne and says: Do you want to go home? She nods her head. Karen helps her up from the floor. Connell puts his hands in his pockets as if to prevent himself touching her by accident. Sorry for making a fuss, Marianne says to Karen. They squeeze hands once more.

Marianne follows Connell towards the exit then and around the side of the hotel, to where his car is parked. She gets in the passenger seat and puts her seat belt on. They just think Pat is great because he has these parties in his house sometimes. Connell says nothing then. He just kneads the steering wheel with his hands. He looks down into his lap, and exhales quickly, almost like a cough. Then he starts the car. They drive for a few minutes in silence, Marianne cooling her forehead against the window.

He taps his fingers on the wheel. I mean we could just hang out for a bit before I drop you home. Marianne stares out the window at the passing town. Maybe she already knows. She must be proud of you. When they get back to his house the windows are all dark and Lorraine is in bed. She has never heard that before, though she has sometimes privately suspected it of herself, but it feels different to hear it from another person. She touches his hand to her breast where it hurts, and he kisses her.

THE MOST NORMAL PEOPLE ON THE PLANET

He kisses her neck. When she nods, he smooths her hair back and says: She lies with her face against his chest. She feels like a soft piece of cloth that is wrung out and dripping. She presses her face very hard against his chest. My dad used to hit my mum, she says. For a few seconds, which seems like an unbelievably long time, Connell says nothing. Connell is silent again. He leans down and kisses her on the forehead.

I would never hurt you, okay? She nods and says nothing. You make me really happy, he says. His hand moves over her hair and he adds: Her eyes fill up with tears again and she closes them. She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person. But now she has a new life, of which this is the first moment, and even after many years have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life.

Urvashi Butalia on the life of transgender Mona Ahmed and her search for a feminine identity. They called it Specialised Life Skills for Girls. Rachel Cusk on motherhood, marriage and separation. The hallway in which we walked seemed to be shrinking, closing in on us. The copyright to all contents of this site is held either by Granta or by the individual authors, and none of the material may be used elsewhere without written permission. For reprint enquiries, contact us. Terms Privacy Statement Cookie Policy. Normal People Sally Rooney. She started to fill the kettle, while he leaned against the countertop.

Why your bedclothes are in the wash, she said. He rolled his eyes just for something to do with his face. You think the worst of everything, he said. The kettle started to warm up and she took a clean mug down from the press. Is that a yes? Would you ever go in there yourself?

I doubt it, Connell said. Does Marianne not have a little bell she would ring to get her attention, no? W hat are you thinking about? You should apply for English in Trinity. I would never pretend not to know you, Connell. Six Weeks Later April T hey have her name on a list. You look gorgeous, says Karen. The lads are fairly late, says Lisa.

Do you want to look inside? Do you hang out here much? He gave a kind of shrug. Not much, he said. Used to a bit, not much any more. Is that what you think I get up to at the weekend, is it? This is probably three times the size of my house, he said. Marianne smiled and said: No, I guess they come after you. He grinned, he looked down at his shoes.

You have a very funny idea of me, he said. What does that mean? What do you want me to do? If I did that, what? And what if I met someone else who liked me more? She shut her eyes. I do like you, she said. Your friend Eric called me flat-chested today in front of everyone. She felt his breathing. You were in the bathroom or somewhere. He said I looked like an ironing board. She shrugged again, chewing on her lower lip. You have nothing to worry about with your appearance, Connell said.

She laughed, feeling silly. Would you miss sleeping with me? Can we go back to your house now? Look at you, Marianne, says Eric.

You are here

Great dress, very sexy. Well, you can see her now, says Karen. In her ear Karen says: Marianne smiles, and the smile that comes out is smug, almost derisive, and she says: I think these lads might want to buy some, says Eric. How are things, Eric? Let me get you a drink, the man says. What are you having? No, thanks, says Marianne. Nice dress, the man says. Can you let go of me?