As the BBC adaptation of Normal People airs, here is a review of the book it was based on.
Normal People was written by Sally Rooney and published in 2018 and became a bestselling novel.
It’s the story of two young lovers Marianne and Connell and the challenges they go through, navigating a relationship in the modern world. They attended the same school but they never would have spoken if Connell’s mum hadn’t worked for Marianne’s parents, as Connell was popular and Marianne was an outcast. At a glance it’s as simple as that but, as the book progresses, Rooney explores who they are and how much they really mean to each other.
Firstly, the characters, both Marianne and Connell, are very complicated people who each have their own insecurities, but they portrayed so clearly by the author, the reader actually feels like they are in their minds, experiencing each emotion as the character does.
“Connell wished he knew how other people conducted their private lives, so that he could copy from example”
Despite being a relatively short book, the plot does seem quite slow at times but, for me, this is simply symbolic of the slow progression of the couple’s relationship. It takes them a long time to determine what they have together and takes a long time to explain how they came to that conclusion.
Finally, the themes of the novel: A major theme of the story is, of course, love and it is really a unique kind of love.
“Marianne, he said, I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me”
Another key theme, however, is class. Connell is from a lower social class than Marianne and this is a cause of tension right the way through the novel.
The final and arguably the most prominent theme is that of the true nature of normality. What is a normal relationship and what does a normal person look like? The book’s title is ‘Normal People’ and on the surface they seem anything but normal but if we dig deeper into their lives and into our own, we discover that none of us are any more normal than each other.
To conclude, I would thoroughly recommend reading ‘Normal People’ during this period of lockdown as it has believable, relatable characters, a realistic love story and hgitjhpya variety of interesting themes.
Georgina Featherston
