Sally Rooney

OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES AND TOP FIVE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE BBC THREE ADAPTATION OF NORMAL PEOPLE WILL PREMIERE ON APRIL 26 WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2018 WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR WINNER OF NOVEL OF THE YEAR AND BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018 LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019 Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins. Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't. 'The literary phenomenon of the decade.' - Guardian SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2019 SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ENCORE PRIZE 2019 LONGLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019

Normal People

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the celebrated author of Conversations with Friends comes "a stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships" (People), hailed as "a masterpiece, pure and simple" (Minneapolis Star Tribune). "Among the vast cohort of new millennial novelists, none are connecting with readers as intimately, or generating as much excitement, as Sally Rooney."--Entertainment Weekly WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD * WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD * LONGLISTED FOR: THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE * THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE * THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION * THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE * THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He's popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers--one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they're both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship. Praise for Normal People "[Rooney] has been hailed as the first great millennial novelist for her stories of love and late capitalism . . . [she writes] some of the best dialogue I've read."--The New Yorker "Arguably the buzziest novel of the season, Sally Rooney's elegant sophomore effort . . . is a worthy successor to Conversations With Friends. Here, again, she unflinchingly explores class dynamics and young love with wit and nuance."--The Wall Street Journal, "12 Best Books of Spring" "Keenly observed, deeply perceptive, and psychologically acute, Normal People brims with disarming insights into how men and women wrestle with sex, class, popularity, and young love."--Esquire, "Best Books to Read This Spring"

A Novel

Mackenzie Shah

That's the only part of himself he wants to protect, the part that exists inside her.

If people appeared to behave pointlessly in grief, it was only because human life was pointless, and this was the truth that grief revealed.

Still, Connell went home that night and read over some notes he had been making for a new story, and he felt the old beat of pleasure inside his body, like watching a perfect goal, like the rustling movement of light through leaves, a phrase of music from the window of a passing car. Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.

It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterward feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about.

The more he thinks about it, the more it resonates. He doesn't even have to think about it, because he feels it: its syntax seems to have originated inside him.

Outside her breath rises in a fine mist and the snow keeps falling, like a ceaseless repetition of the same infinitesimally small mistake.

So many things pass secretly between people anyway

Well, I haven't been home since the exams. I don't know, do I still have pupils? She looks in his eyes, where his pupils are swollen to round black bullets. Yes, she says. They're huge. He strokes her hand again and says more quietly: Oh well. They get like that when I see you anyway.

Maybe I want to be treated badly, she says. I don't know. Sometimes I think I deserve bad things because I'm a bad person.

...feeling a strange sense of nostalgia for a moment that was already in the process of happening.

I'm not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.

Generally I find men are a lot more concerned with limiting the freedoms of women than exercising personal freedom for themselves

That was it, people moved away, he moved away. Their life in Carricklea, which they had imbued with such drama and significance, just ended like that with no conclusion, and it would never be picked back up again, never in the same way.

Even in memory she will find this moment unbearably intense, and she's aware of this now, while it's happening. 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 have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life.

Most people go through their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close with anyone.

Marianne has the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn't know if she would ever find out where it was and become part of it.

It expresses everything all at once, which is the same as expressing nothing.

Teenagers Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He's popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they're both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world, while Connell hangs on the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their time at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other...

Cassie French

He brought her goodness like a gift and now it belongs to her. Meanwhile his life opens out before him in all directions at once. They've done a lot of good for each other. Really, she thinks, really. People can really change one another.

Natalie Unsinn 

It’s funny the decisions you make because you like someone, and then your whole life is different. I think we’re at that weird age where life can change a lot from small decisions. 

Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything. 

You learn nothing very profound about yourself simply by being bullied; but by bullying someone else you learn something you can never forget.

I love that in this book, family and friends have been very straight forward with each other. Rather than having to walk on eggshells to speak their mind they just say it. And no one takes offense, instead they have very mature conversations whether they agree or not.

I don't buy into the morality of work, she says. Some work maybe, but you’re just moving paper around an office, you’re not contributing to the human effort

Well, but the time is more real. Time consists of physics, money is just a social construct.

Marianne replaces the yogurt pot in the freezer and asks Joanna if she finds it strange, to be paid for her hours at work-to exchange, in other words, blocks of her extremely limited time on this earth for the human invention known as money

For such a mundane book I loved it so much wish it could go on and on

Savannah

liny

ok so 
1. i like the no quotation marks thing
2. wtf the end felt so rushed
3. both of them are too relatable, especially marianne :)
4. i came to the conclusion that i like boring books and movies where nothing really happens 
5. i’ll buy another rooney tmrw

It’s so dumb and the author doesn’t use quotations. 

Liz Hunsaker

Gem Koeman

** spoiler alert **
           If you're looking for a book with a sugar sweet happy ending, this one probably isn't for you. As I suspected, the hype surrounding this book was slightly overstated, but not by much. 

The story is simple, it follows two young adults finding their way through life. This book is really more of a character examination so if you don't love character focused book then you'll probably find this difficult to read. The plot is barely there and the intrigue was quite low but I somehow found the book fascinating and difficult to put down. 

In some ways, it reminded me a little of some of the Jacqueline Wilson books that I read growing up but with a darker edge. 

Both characters in the book are struggling with life. From the start it seems that Marianne is maladjusted to everything around her but we soon find out that Connell is finding things just as hard. 

The one thing that I really want to laud this book for is the portrayal of mental health for men, it's not something that we often speak about and as a woman I'm often drawn to the person that I can relate to more but this book did an astounding job of giving us insight into Connells inner monologue. 

Neither of the characters were particularly likeable but I think that was one of the major points of the book. The characters were simply Normal People dealing with human issues and making missteps along the way. 

I found the description of University life to be incredibly realistic. Thousands of opportunities thrown your way, some of the loneliest moments of your life so far and a wash of people that flow in and out of your life like waves. 

The book lost a star in my rating because it was a difficult writing style for me to grab onto but it's one that I'll be picking up a physical copy of and certainly a standout read of the year so far.

#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER; LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE: A wondrously wise, genuinely unputdownable novel from Sally Rooney, winner of the 2017 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award (at 26, tied with Zadie Smith for the youngest-ever recipient)--the quintessential coming-of-age love story for our time. Connell Waldron is one of the most popular boys in his small-town high school--he is a star of the football team, an excellent student, and never wanting for attention from girls. The one thing he doesn't have is money. Marianne Sheridan, a classmate of Connell's, has the opposite problem. Marianne is plain-looking, odd, and stubborn, and while her family is well-off, she has no friends to speak of. There is, however, a deep and undeniable connection between the two teenagers, one that develops into a secret relationship. Everything changes when both Connell and Marianne are accepted to Trinity College. Suddenly Marianne is well-liked and elegant, holding court with her intellectual friends while Connell hangs at the sidelines, not quite as fluent in language of the elite. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle each other, falling in and out of romance but never straying far from where they started. And as Marianne experiments with an increasingly dangerous string of boyfriends, Connell must decide how far he is willing to go to save his oldest friend. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a novel that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the inescapable challenges of family and friendships. Normal People is a book that you will read in one sitting, and then immediately share with your friends.

At first I really had a hard time reading without the quote marks, however this book delivered what its title states

Jenn

At first I really had a hard time reading without the quote marks, however this book delivered what its title states



Joana da Silva

A história destes dois conquistou-me no primeiro capítulo e a escrita da Sally Rooney prendeu-me brutalmente. Há muito tempo que não lia um livro que me agarrasse assim, uma história tão crua e tão real, sem os floreados habituais de um romance. São, indeed, Normal People.

if you have ever been in love, painfully. you will see yourself in this story. 

Fatima Irfan 

No. Couldn’t understand the point of this. Totally a waste of time. Will put you in a reading slump for sure.

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins. Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't.

It is one of the most beautiful and compelling books I have had the pleasure of reading. Each word either had my heart being torn out by the very hands of Miss Rooney, had my heart mended by Miss Rooney or had my soul fullfilled by pieces of her own soul. The loe of Marianne and Connel had me sobbing; their romance brought me to tears. Then the seperation and miscommunication made me cry twice as hard. I was heart broken for both of them. I became attached to the characters instantly, I despised the people Connell or Marianne despised and I cherished the people Connell or Marianne cherished. I found myself melting for Lorraine, she's a wonderful mother who I found myself appreciating with every inch of my heart. She is such a wonderful person as well as mother and I believe Sally Rooney has perfectly shown this in her literature.

My heart aches for love like this. Maybe less problematic and with better communication, but honestly, Miss Rooney has successfully shown that love and relationships aren't easy going, they aren't just full of love and happiness, and that along the way, you will end up leaving one another, you will have your own personal struggles, and you will end up finding other loves. 

Connell's mental situation also brought me to tears. Honestly, the combination of Rooney's description of his mental state made me sob. I placed the book face down and laid silently on my pillow with silent streams of tears making its way down my face because I was just so utterly touched right down to my spine from the description. The struggle, the therapist and everything just hurt my heart. 

Marianne's relationship with "family" is just a heart-wrenching as Connell's mental health. I say "family" in quotations because they are only her family because they share the same DNA as her, not because they love her, deserve her or treat her how you would as a decent human being. Her brother Alan is as abusive as their dead father. Her mother almost encourages this behaviour, and does not even oppose Alan to treat his sister with dignity and respect.

safiya surti

It is one of the most beautiful and compelling books I have had the pleasure of reading. Each word either had my heart being torn out by the very hands of Miss Rooney, had my heart mended by Miss Rooney or had my soul fullfilled by pieces of her own soul. The loe of Marianne and Connel had me sobbing; their romance brought me to tears. Then the seperation and miscommunication made me cry twice as hard. I was heart broken for both of them. I became attached to the characters instantly, I despised the people Connell or Marianne despised and I cherished the people Connell or Marianne cherished. I found myself melting for Lorraine, she's a wonderful mother who I found myself appreciating with every inch of my heart. She is such a wonderful person as well as mother and I believe Sally Rooney has perfectly shown this in her literature.

My heart aches for love like this. Maybe less problematic and with better communication, but honestly, Miss Rooney has successfully shown that love and relationships aren't easy going, they aren't just full of love and happiness, and that along the way, you will end up leaving one another, you will have your own personal struggles, and you will end up finding other loves. 

Connell's mental situation also brought me to tears. Honestly, the combination of Rooney's description of his mental state made me sob. I placed the book face down and laid silently on my pillow with silent streams of tears making its way down my face because I was just so utterly touched right down to my spine from the description. The struggle, the therapist and everything just hurt my heart. 

Marianne's relationship with "family" is just a heart-wrenching as Connell's mental health. I say "family" in quotations because they are only her family because they share the same DNA as her, not because they love her, deserve her or treat her how you would as a decent human being. Her brother Alan is as abusive as their dead father. Her mother almost encourages this behaviour, and does not even oppose Alan to treat his sister with dignity and respect.

It’s a very insightful book. The writing is incredibly special and a wide spectrum of thoughts and feelings are described. Both beautiful and ugly ones. I really liked it, therefore it’s a new favourite of mine. 😊

Harriet

Mara Rose

Wow. Just wow
The most beautiful book I have ever read!

The writing was beautiful and so was the meaning. It just didn’t interest me the way I thought it would. It was very slow and I kept wondering when something was going to happen, by the end I realized what that was but it didn’t satisfy me. 

Madilyn Taylor

Isadora Cal

This is a book to make you feel things. All sorts of things. Passion, anger, love, lust, hate, pity — sometimes all on the same page. And I literally just finished it and as usual came to document my reading while it is fresh in my memory, but I am still thinking about the title. Wish I was back at grad school and could discuss this book in one of my literature classes. 

Now, does it really end like that, abruptly, or was my ebook missing text? And how come the author is the same age as me??? I can’t barely articulate my thoughts nowadays.

Marina

This book will illicit visceral emotions from you- these characters are SOO frustrating but in the best and most unfortunately human way. 

Anyone who has had complicated relationships with a partner or even friend, especially someone you’ve known since school years, will be able to connect to a feeling from either Connell or Marianne. 

It does take a moment to get used to the lack of quotation marks, however, I think that it adds to the complexity of Connell and Marianne’s relationship. They have so many back-and-forths in which they harbor similar feelings to the other from different sections of the story; when you sometimes have to double check who is saying what— you understand their connection and similarities.

(As a side note- I watched the Hulu series right after reading the novel and it was a fantastic adaptation! Would recommend that as well!)

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018 Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years. This is an exquisite love story about how a person can change another person's life - a simple yet profound realisation that unfolds beautifully over the course of the novel. It tells us how difficult it is to talk about how we feel and it tells us - blazingly - about cycles of domination, legitimacy and privilege. Alternating menace with overwhelming tenderness, Sally Rooney's second novel breathes fiction with new life.

Sarah Pino

Not for the folks who don't enjoy slow stories

Lottie

It’s just not really my thing and what was that ending? sorry but what?

I watched the miniserie first and instantly fell in love. 

The book in my opinion was personally not as good as the show. 

I wish the book was written in first person and had better writing. 

However, I related to the characters at certain moments and found them likable.

Lulu Evensen

I watched the miniserie first and instantly fell in love. 

The book in my opinion was personally not as good as the show. 

I wish the book was written in first person and had better writing. 

However, I related to the characters at certain moments and found them likable.

Kaitlin Duane

I imagine if not for watching this series 3 times over, I’d have rated this 5 stars. I’m certain I would have cried at the ending just as I did the first time I watched it and I imagine the ebbs and flows of Marianna and Connell’s love would have made me frustrated and impatient, which I love as a reader, but knowing where it was going naturally took away the imagination factor for me - by no fault of the authorship or the characters or the story itself, I just didn’t have a 5 star reading experience because of what I knew already.. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for this one and likely one of my forever favourites purely for my love of Marianne and Connell from show to book, and the gritty way Sally Rooney writes about humans.

Meg Ferguson

Normal People is one of those books where you spend the whole novel wondering when something is going to happen. It isn’t until you finish the book that you realise the whole book was something... Marianne and Connell weren’t the love icons you read about in cheesy rom com’s however they were joined by far more than love for each other. 
Connell’s story of depression and anxiety left me with much sympathy and understanding, whilst Marianne’s story of self hatred and sadness was difficult to read at times and left me with a feeling of emptiness. It was an overall very good book with an ending representing much of relationships in real life, as oppose to the ones you read about in love stories.

Jacqueline Englund

I’m not entirely sure how to rate this book. There were parts I loved and others I hated. I loved the fact that it showed what a beautiful mess life can be but at times it just felt repetitive and annoying. Overall I was not a big fan of the writing and didn’t connect to the characters as much as I would have liked.

Millie Roberts

HMMMMM hmmm I feel bad giving it this rating cause everyone loves it but idk it just never clicked

Alexa M

im sorry WHERE TF IS THE REST OF THE BOOK??
this book was an Experience for me. i "struggled" in a way to pick it up because of how genuinely emotionally it was making me. i cried many times and really related to both characters in some ways and yet was really annoyed at them for other things. i really thought i was going to give this 5 stars but like.. the end... WHY. so frustrating.

Taylor Rae Peterson

There's plenty of valid reasons why I should hate this book, but for some reason I don't. It was angsty, awkward, tragically romantic, toxic, and made me want to pull my hair out. This is the type of story that will be in the back of my mind everyday

Normal People

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