Sally Rooney

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.

Normal People

Ezgi Hatipoğlu

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

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

figments of one's sanity

At times he has the sensation that he and Marianne are like figure-skaters, improvising their discussions so adeptly and in such perfect synchronisation that it surprises them both. She tosses herself gracefully into the air, and each time, without knowing how he's going to do it, he catches her.

She would have lain on the ground and let him walk over body if he wanted, he knew that.

Anna Cassmer Ling-Vannérus

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

#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.

lowkey surprised this line came so early 

Raigan Correll

I would never pretend not to know you Connell

The deeper I get into adulthood the more I can agree 

Jojo

That’s money, the substance that makes the world real. There’s something so corrupt and sexy about it.

Laura Dobie

Not for the first time Marianne thinks cruelty does not only hurt the victim, but the perpetrator also, and maybe more deeply and more permanently. You learn nothing very profound about yourself simply by being bullied; but by bullying someone else you learn something you can never forget.

Connell's initial assessment of the reading was not disproven. It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about. Even if the writer himself was a good person, and even if his book really was insightful, all books were ultimately marketed as status symbols, and all writers participated to some degree in this marketing. Presumably this was how the industry made money. Literature, in the way it appeared at these public readings, had no potential as a form of resistance to anything. 

Connell couldn’t think of any reason why these literary events took place, what they contributed to anything, what they meant. They were attended only by people who wanted to be the kind of people who attended them.

Is the world such an evil place, that love should be indistinguishable from the basest and most abusive forms of violence? Outside her breath rises in a fine mist and the snow keeps falling, like a ceaseless repetition of the same infinitesimally small mistake.

He doesn't remember how he got back to her house, whether he walked or took a taxi, he still doesn't know. The place had that strange unfurnished cleanliness that lonely houses sometimes have. She seemed like a person with no hobbies: no bookcases, no musical instruments. What do you do with yourself at the weekends, he remembers slurring. I go out and have fun, she said. This struck him even at the time as deeply depressing. She poured them both glasses of wine. Connell sat on the leather sofa and drank the wine for something to do with his hands.

He did gradually start to wonder why all their classroom discussions were so abstract and lacking in textual detail, and eventually he realised that most people were not actually doing the reading. They were coming into college every day to have heated debates about books they had not read. He understands now that his classmates are not like him. It's easy for them to have opinions, and to express them with confidence. They don't worry about appearing ignorant or conceited. They are not stupid people, but they' re not so much smarter than him either. They just move through the world in a different way, and he'll probably really understand them, and he knows they will never understand him, or even try.

Connell wished he knew how other people conducted their private lives, so that he could copy from example.

Normal Insanlar

Beliz Kaya

Şu dünya, sevgi denen şeyi kimsenin şiddetin en adi ve aşağılık biçimlerinden ayırt edemediği kadar kötü bir yer olabilir mi?   

Seni seviyorum. Öylesine söylemiyorum, gerçekten, Gözleri doluyor Marianne'in, yumuyor gözlerini. Daha sonra hatırladığında dahi dayanamadığı kadar etkileyecek bu an onu, şu an yaşıyorken bile farkında bunun. Kimsenin sevgisine değer olduğunu düşünmemişti Marianne. Ama şimdi yeni bir hayatı var, ilk ânı da bu. Marianne üzerinden yıllar geçtikten sonra bile aynı şeyi düşünecek. Evet, o anda işte, hayatıman başladığı an o andı.  

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...

Larissa Campos

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.

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

All these years, they've been like two little plants sharing the same plot of soil, growing around one another, contorting to make room, taking certain unlikely positions.

She really is the mom we wished every boy we dated had

Cecilie Spangsberg

the moment where Lorraine is like: no i can take the bus, i am disgusted by you...

Normale Menschen

anne

Ihre Gefühle wurde im Alltag so sorgfältig unterdrückt und in immer engere Ecken gedrängt, bis scheinbar unwichtige Anlässe eine wahnsinnige und beängstigende Bedeutung annahmen

sofia mae

If she was different with Connell, the difference was not happening inside herself, in her personhood, but in between them, in the dynamic.

kayla 

Marianne had 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. She had that feeling in school often, but it wasn’t accompanied by any specific images of what the real life might look or feel like. All she knew was that when it started, she wouldn’t need to imagine it anymore.

She has no friends and spends her lunchtimes alone reading novels. A lot of people really hate her.

Marta

Connell always gets what he wants, and then feels sorry for himself when what he wants doesn't make him happy.

An emotional journey for sure. I feel like I understand a younger version of myself better and can see my current self better after reading it. The words unspoken between two people so clearly in love because the fear of losing that person is so crippling is all too relatable. I feel for both Marianne and Connell on such a deep level I just wish they weren’t cowards and embraced love. It’s so scary even terrifying but there’s also something so safe in having your person. 

Joe Ricupero

so this is just an irish version of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton? (because you think it’s a love story, which it is, but still covers things like class and gender) i think for a 2018 book it eats but reading this in 2025 makes it a bit paler than i thought it would be. i also really didn’t want to read this because a main trope is miscommunication, but it’s not as bad as i thought it would be. i do love the writing style though, always have a soft spot for the gentle and mundane against some terrible shi happening

Ianna Chia

sadly i eat this up like i couldn’t put the book down i think this is one of the very few books that have gone viral on booktok and i actually get the hype. such an easy read

nina 

normal people by sally rooney is a novel that, while having a good plot, can be a bit challenging to read because of the author’s writing style—especially the dialogues, which don’t use quotation marks when the characters are talking to each other. the story mainly revolves around marianne and connell’s on-and-off relationship, with a heavy focus on their sex life, which at times overshadows other aspects of their characters. it would have been more compelling if the narrative dug deeper into marianne’s troubled family and the abuse she experiences, as well as connell’s way of thinking and the reasons behind his struggles. i do love how the book ends openly, leaving readers to choose their own version of how their story continues, but it also really frustrates me that this was the ending after everything they went through. despite these mixed feelings, the book still offers an honest portrayal of intimacy, miscommunication, and the messiness of young love.

Marianne had 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 or become part of it

Bulan

in my opinion the ultimate sally rooney book. i have not read the new one and based on my review of the first one you might think normal people would not be up my alley. but it precisely is. it evokes raw emotion in a way most books don't. it is also the only time a sally rooney book does not suffer from prolonged political commentaries disguised as mere conversations. the way the characters connect and interact is so captivating

Vincent Osvald

Ich habe gedacht, dass ich dieses Buch nicht mögen würde, doch es hat mich positiv überrascht und emotional so sehr mitgenommen, wie ich es niemals erwartet hätte.

Ich habe dieses Buch während meiner Rom Reise gelesen und ich denke, dass das ebenfalls einen Einfluss darauf hatte, wie ich dem Buch gegenüber empfinde.

Diese Geschichte ist keine Love Story und zum allerersten Mal geht es in einem Buch meiner Meinung nach nicht zentral um die romantische Beziehung zwischen den beiden Protagonisten, sondern um eine tiefe Freundschaft, eine Verbundenheit und Vertrautheit, wie ich sie so noch nie gelesen habe. Dieses Buch hat in mir so starke Gefühle ausgelöst, mich zum Weinen gebracht, und jedes Mal, wenn ich es in den Händen halte, werde ich von den Emotionen überschwemmt, die ich beim Lesen empfunden habe. Sally Rooney konnte all das in einem Leser/Leserin auslösen und dabei einen Schreibstil verwenden, der sehr nüchtern und einfach ist. How?!

Das Buch behandelt wichtige Themen wie den Kampf gegen Minderwertigkeitsgefühle, Depression, gesellschaftlichen Rang sowie Freundschaft, Liebe und Zugehörigkeit.

Ich werde Connell und Marianne wahrscheinlich nicht so schnell vergessen können.

Zainab 

Ich habe gedacht, dass ich dieses Buch nicht mögen würde, doch es hat mich positiv überrascht und emotional so sehr mitgenommen, wie ich es niemals erwartet hätte.

Ich habe dieses Buch während meiner Rom Reise gelesen und ich denke, dass das ebenfalls einen Einfluss darauf hatte, wie ich dem Buch gegenüber empfinde.

Diese Geschichte ist keine Love Story und zum allerersten Mal geht es in einem Buch meiner Meinung nach nicht zentral um die romantische Beziehung zwischen den beiden Protagonisten, sondern um eine tiefe Freundschaft, eine Verbundenheit und Vertrautheit, wie ich sie so noch nie gelesen habe. Dieses Buch hat in mir so starke Gefühle ausgelöst, mich zum Weinen gebracht, und jedes Mal, wenn ich es in den Händen halte, werde ich von den Emotionen überschwemmt, die ich beim Lesen empfunden habe. Sally Rooney konnte all das in einem Leser/Leserin auslösen und dabei einen Schreibstil verwenden, der sehr nüchtern und einfach ist. How?!

Das Buch behandelt wichtige Themen wie den Kampf gegen Minderwertigkeitsgefühle, Depression, gesellschaftlichen Rang sowie Freundschaft, Liebe und Zugehörigkeit.

Ich werde Connell und Marianne wahrscheinlich nicht so schnell vergessen können.

sometimes you love people so intensely, it changes you ! 

anyway the missed communication huRt me physically at times here,, simply put:: if situationship intense,, how not real relationship??? 

Nat Wong

sometimes you love people so intensely, it changes you ! 

anyway the missed communication huRt me physically at times here,, simply put:: if situationship intense,, how not real relationship??? 

From what I’ve read about this story, it is controversial. I think there’s no way to understand it if you haven’t lived an experienced close to the relationship of marryanne and Connell.

This book is honest and raw. I feel like it does well describing the experience of your twenties. Whether or not you are in this kind of romantic situation or not.

As for the read, it was very slow, but interesting and kept me entertained. I found myself frustrated many times trying to force something to happen between the two, as if it were my story to tell. But it isn’t, and that’s the entire point. When I read the last chapter, this book became clear to me.

I don’t think I would recommend this to someone, but I enjoyed it and found it relatable at times.

Hadley 

From what I’ve read about this story, it is controversial. I think there’s no way to understand it if you haven’t lived an experienced close to the relationship of marryanne and Connell.

This book is honest and raw. I feel like it does well describing the experience of your twenties. Whether or not you are in this kind of romantic situation or not.

As for the read, it was very slow, but interesting and kept me entertained. I found myself frustrated many times trying to force something to happen between the two, as if it were my story to tell. But it isn’t, and that’s the entire point. When I read the last chapter, this book became clear to me.

I don’t think I would recommend this to someone, but I enjoyed it and found it relatable at times.

finja

as much as I understand how the author is trying to capture how the relationship dynamic between the characters is undeniably realistic, it is just too anticlimatic and lack of emotions. 

zahra

the most heart-breaking but comforting book i have ever known. i could read it over and over again and it would kill me every time. 

evie coxon

Anticlimactic and kind of boring. Complex characters but they were both honestly infuriating and the entire relationship was kind of gross to observe

I avoided this book because it was so hyped, but I'm glad I finally read it. It's well worth the hype. I grew to really like the main characters. We follow their overlapping lives over the years, and we get to dig deeper and see them grow. There's a beautiful authenticity that's revealed and it's satisfying to see them find acceptance and embrace themselves.

Saffia

I really can’t bring myself to give a gaf about them im sorry

Cate

loved this book to the moon and back, gave me a new perspective on my relationships with other people

nell reeves 

I love the way she has developed each character. totally in love with the story plot & I didn’t really expect it to end that way. Overall, a very good book 

Kaarthik sekar 

the lack of quotation marks actually wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be!! And i actually enjoyed the writing in this book my issue is i didn’t feel connected with the characters. I felt like the fly on the wall watching this go down and just going “damn thats crazy” which was kinda the exact opposite of what i thought was going to be my opinion based on how i hear people talk about this book. It’s also very fast paced and slow at the same time somehow?? I think thats just a genre element of literary fiction though. I liked how there wasn’t a bunch of filler because the lack of quotation marks makes you WORK. if you are a chronic skimmer of pages this book will not work. but also the ending was kinda abrupt and it was kinda open ended which make me feel like i didnt gain anything from this book

came back & changed the rating 2 months later bc i cannot stop thinking about this book.  this is actually a masterpiece it just needed to grow on me, i actually do think that this book showcases how small miscommunications and words left unsaid can really affect a relationship and ruin it. And i think seeing the two main characters each have their low points and have such different lives were done so well.

melanie

the lack of quotation marks actually wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be!! And i actually enjoyed the writing in this book my issue is i didn’t feel connected with the characters. I felt like the fly on the wall watching this go down and just going “damn thats crazy” which was kinda the exact opposite of what i thought was going to be my opinion based on how i hear people talk about this book. It’s also very fast paced and slow at the same time somehow?? I think thats just a genre element of literary fiction though. I liked how there wasn’t a bunch of filler because the lack of quotation marks makes you WORK. if you are a chronic skimmer of pages this book will not work. but also the ending was kinda abrupt and it was kinda open ended which make me feel like i didnt gain anything from this book

came back & changed the rating 2 months later bc i cannot stop thinking about this book.  this is actually a masterpiece it just needed to grow on me, i actually do think that this book showcases how small miscommunications and words left unsaid can really affect a relationship and ruin it. And i think seeing the two main characters each have their low points and have such different lives were done so well.

I think all in all, the book was pretty good, there are just a few things that bothered me throughout the read that holds it back from a 4-5 star rating. 

First and foremost, I think it is important to understand that this story revolves around dialogue to convey how the characters feel about each other and that sometimes can take away from the experience a bit. I feel like this was an intentional to portray the perspective that regardless of how we feel as individuals, sometimes what we say misconstrues our actual thoughts. In this case though, the dialogue was often stale and I didn't feel like I got to experience the characters develop as much as I wanted to. 

Yes, Connell embraces Marianne at their school reunion at the end of the story but at that point, Marianne has supposedly 

 and they have experienced so much in their lives together. It doesn't necessarily mean that Connell has grown as a person and doesn't care about social status anymore. I don't know, I just wanted more development from both Marianne and Connell at the end of the story. 

Marianne does seem to grow more and we can clearly see this from when she kind of bashes on Eric during the funeral for bringing up her and Connell's history in front of Connell's current girlfriend at the time. Still, I wish we got to explore more of her with her family and standing up for herself rather than not exploring that 

To make the book better, I think we need more side characters that add value to the book rather than intensely focusing on Connell and Marianne. 

Apurva Shah

I think all in all, the book was pretty good, there are just a few things that bothered me throughout the read that holds it back from a 4-5 star rating. 

First and foremost, I think it is important to understand that this story revolves around dialogue to convey how the characters feel about each other and that sometimes can take away from the experience a bit. I feel like this was an intentional to portray the perspective that regardless of how we feel as individuals, sometimes what we say misconstrues our actual thoughts. In this case though, the dialogue was often stale and I didn't feel like I got to experience the characters develop as much as I wanted to. 

Yes, Connell embraces Marianne at their school reunion at the end of the story but at that point, Marianne has supposedly "gotten a lot prettier" and they have experienced so much in their lives together. It doesn't necessarily mean that Connell has grown as a person and doesn't care about social status anymore. I don't know, I just wanted more development from both Marianne and Connell at the end of the story. 

Marianne does seem to grow more and we can clearly see this from when she kind of bashes on Eric during the funeral for bringing up her and Connell's history in front of Connell's current girlfriend at the time. Still, I wish we got to explore more of her with her family and standing up for herself rather than not exploring that submissive side of her at all. 

To make the book better, I think we need more side characters that add value to the book rather than intensely focusing on Connell and Marianne. 

Key Takeaways: 

Don't let your pride get the best of you. 

Be clear in your communication, failure to do so can lead to a life long of unhappiness and missed opportunity. 

Do not change yourself based off of other people's thoughts. Situations are temporary, focus on what matters in the long term. 

Nobody is perfect, do not let past actions dictate how you perceive someone in the future. 

Normal People

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