book review #10 normal people

- Sally Rooney

I been wanting to read this book for some time since I saw it being recommended several times and luckily stumbled upon this book in the library back when I was in Japan! It’s been about a month since I read it so it’s been a while but here’s my review on it.

This book follows Connell and Marianna, two teenagers in Dublin who go to the same high school but are raised in different social classes. While Marianna is raised in a rich household, Connell’s mom works for Marianna’s family as a maid. One day when Connell goes to Marianna’s house to pick up his mom from work, they start a conversation which leads to a relationship that they perhaps were not ready for. While they both find each other attractive, they don’t talk to each other whatsoever at school. Connell being popular and Marianna always alone, there are in complete polar opposites when it comes to high school politics.

Later in university however, this dynamic is reversed and Marianna no longer is the odd one out while Connell struggles to find a new group of his own. They go on dating different people throughout their time in university, but somehow find themselves back to each other repeatedly. It’s obvious that they have feelings for each other but in the multiple times their paths crossed, they never come to confront one another. As a reader, this on and off connection with them does get dull at points, but Connell and Marianna’s story shows how timing is important and that life sometimes doesn’t work out for reasons we may never come to understand. I loved the melancholic tone that is stretched out throughout the book, and the small moments of young love portrayed in this book was a fun and beautiful read.

I hope you enjoyed my review and read the book for yourself if you find it interesting!