A story of mutual fascination, friendship and love in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't.
By Janvi Pahuja
“Most people go through their whole lives, without ever really feeling that close with anyone.”
Set in Ireland, Normal People by Sally Rooney navigates the lives of Marianne and Connell, who appear seemingly different but are similar in many ways. While Connell's social life thrives at school, Marianne is always alone. However, the latter is very privileged as money and financial stability isn't one of her concerns. On the other hand, Connell's mother works at Marianne's castle-like house— which is where it all starts.
When Marianne tells Connell about what she thinks of him and he reciprocates the feeling, the two begin a relationship, not the normal sort- as they never even acknowledge each other publicly. However, behind the four walls, they share the kind of intimacy that's hard to find. But after a while, Marianne calls it quit and these two navigate life on their own until they meet again in Trinity College, where they both are studying totally different courses.
There are several time jumps from this period, where both these characters change often— in the beginning, Connell struggles to fit in with the crowd, whereas Marianne finds herself a group. These two then explore their lives, together and apart, constantly reminding the readers that holding to someone can change your life, for the better. They overcome obstacles whilst helping each other in the process and become better, more confident versions of themselves.
What's interesting about this constant on and off with Marianne and Connell's relationship is that readers can feel the frustration of both these characters. You'd constantly think that communication is not their strongest suit, but as you delve into their personal lives and the challenges that they face, it becomes easier to understand why they are who they are.
Rooney covers a wide array of topics in this story— being in love, depression, loneliness, self esteem, grief, sexual exploration, the shift from school to university, class inequalities and dependency. Each of these play an important role to the plot as well as defining these characters and where they come from.
The book is also filled with several literary references. When the protagonists are enjoying ice-cream in Italy, Connell says "It's real, you know, foreign cities are real, famous artworks, Remnants of Berlin Wall. Eating ice cream in little Italian Piazzas with you." and later gives her a book of Frank O'Hara's poems as a birthday present, which includes the poem 'Having a coke with you' which mentions how finding a lover and doing things with them is a beautiful and surreal feeling. Another literary reference and it's connection with class inequality is made when Marianne suggests Connell to read Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto without actually reading herself. It shows the irony that she recommends a book that essentially fueled people's revolt against the upper caste/privileged and the herself hasn't even read it herself.
This book was named the best book of 2018 and I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those who've felt (or still feel) 'out of place'. If you're not a reader, you can check out the BBC series adaptation of Normal People, for stunning backdrops of Ireland, Sweden and Italy as well as the phenomenal acting of Paul Mescal (Connell) and Daisy-Edgar Jones (Marianne).
Buy Normal People by Sally Rooney, this amazing book at the link below:
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