Normal People
Emotional
Meaningful
Honest

Normal People

Sally Rooney2018
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.
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Reviews

Photo of Kaarthik sekar
Kaarthik sekar @kaarthiksekar
4.5 stars
Mar 24, 2025

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

+1
Photo of melanie
melanie@melanieslibrary
3 stars
Mar 14, 2025

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

Photo of Apurva Shah
Apurva Shah@apurvashah
3.5 stars
Mar 5, 2025

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.

This review contains a spoiler
+2
Photo of Elianne
Elianne@elianne
4 stars
Feb 23, 2025

very intimate

Photo of segyoung
segyoung@segyoung
3 stars
Feb 18, 2025

idk it was like a cheesy fan fiction to me

Photo of Juanita
Juanita@zzziploc
3 stars
Feb 8, 2025

Extremely depressing horny people

Photo of petrina
petrina@petrinaaa08
4.5 stars
Jan 28, 2025

honestly whatever

Photo of west
west@west
3.5 stars
Jan 7, 2025

so do we sue sally rooney for emotional damages or what?

Photo of Emma
Emma@emmakbradford
5 stars
Jan 5, 2025

Weirdly did not get confused by the lack of quotation marks

+4
Photo of Cecilie Spangsberg
Cecilie Spangsberg@ceciliespangsberg
2 stars
Dec 27, 2024

i had such great expectations for this book, and having turned the last page i almost feel guilty for not liking it... i still stand with my previous statement, that rooney is a brilliant writer, this storyline just simply didn't resonate with me. somehow it felt like a collection of cliches where the plot twist never really happened, making the story predictable and unfortunatly a bit bland.

on top of that, something about the way domestic violence is portrayed felt utterly wrong. it was as if the aim wasn’t to draw attention to a serious issue but merely to add drama to the storyline...

not a fan, but her writing is still so pure and unique that i will probably pick up intermezzo soon enough...

Photo of anna
anna @televangelism
5 stars
Dec 18, 2024

fav <33

Photo of LIMEKI
LIMEKI @livingdeadpigeon9
2 stars
Dec 15, 2024

I'm not sure of I enjoyed it because it's good or because it hits a bit too close to home.

Photo of alice l
alice l@atinyfrogo
5 stars
Dec 14, 2024

oh sally rooneys writing is so good??? i literally finished this book and was sad for like an hour. not because it was particularly sad? but mainly because i resonated with the characters and felt how they felt in my early 20s. was also really interesting to see her talk about class and show how that can impact relationships.


ngl i was so confused when i read the first page when their was no quotations LOL. had to do a double take. but i didnt mind it. it made it feel like someone was just sitting down and telling me a story about this couple and i loved it. that being said can see how that would make this hard to read and probably not a book everyone would enjoy.

+1
Photo of larissa campos
larissa campos @ssecretgardenss
5 stars
Dec 8, 2024

minha cabeça doía em algumas partes, de tanto que eu me via nela, de tanto que eu me via nele, de tanto que eu me via em situações que eu julgaria se não fossem situações que eu estaria tão presente. choro preso na garganta, pra variar. muitos pensamentos, muita analise pessoal e muita dor de cabeça.

a falta de comunicação direta deles me deixou um pouco doida, e mais uma vez, faz sentido por serem apenas pessoas normais vivendo suas vidas normais, mas é de quebrar o coração a quantidade de encontros e desencontros.

me senti cutucando uma ferida, durante toda a leitura. muita dor de cabeça.

+15
Photo of Jazmín Mejía
Jazmín Mejía@jaz19
4 stars
Dec 6, 2024

Me gustaron un montón los personajes y el final, hay un montón de cosas que no se dicen, pero que ahí están definiendo todo

Photo of Chase Leitner
Chase Leitner@chase_leitner21
5 stars
Dec 1, 2024

Painstakingly good

Photo of Cici Pearson
Cici Pearson@cocoisabird
4.5 stars
Nov 27, 2024

hey what the FUCK was the ending

Photo of anne
anne@gh0stlikesreading
3 stars
Oct 31, 2024

Ich lieeebe den Schreibstil!

Nur das Ende war ein bisschen unspektakulär. Aber so ist das Leben von normalen Menschen nunmal

+5
Photo of Laura Gill
Laura Gill@gillybookworm
4 stars
Oct 22, 2024

I couldn’t put it down, even though I knew what was going to happen from watching the show. It was intoxicating, almost too much! Fascinating study of a relationship.

Photo of tin
tin@kyeopi
3 stars
Oct 20, 2024

closed the book and stared at the wall for a few seconds bcos wtf was that? that’s how it ends? idk u guys i did not resinate a lot with this book i did not really feel it’s entirety. i was expecting so much lol. there were moments i loved and i got frustrated with how they keep pushing each other away which is kind of the point of everything, but then it just felt repetitive and bland. idk. maybe i’d like the series more if i start watching.

Photo of Libby W
Libby W@libbyswoodson
2 stars
Sep 28, 2024

so overrated rly did not enjoy at least it was short tho

Photo of rasya
rasya@keikomato
5 stars
Sep 26, 2024

this book took me to such amazing emotional rollercoaster! how connell and marianne behave is just so.. raw, it's the truest feeling of living in your 20s, how sally wrote the depression chapter of connell is spot on. i never knew that i will relate much more to him than i am to marianne.

This review contains a spoiler
+4
Photo of Fatima
Fatima@raincat
2 stars
Sep 26, 2024

Wirklich schwer dieses Buch zu bewerten.

Wenn man wirklich denkt dass die Charaktere immer nur „Ich weiß nicht“ und unsicher sind als realistisch sieht, dann ist dieses Buch was für dich.

Marrienne ist in einer reichen abusive Family aufgewachsen und wird so dargestellt dass sie sich auf die Meinung anderer nicht schert und sich immer schlechte Partner aussucht. Connel dagegen ist mit seiner Mutter aufgewachsen und er leidet unter Depressionen und Angstzustände.

Die nebenfiguren zb die Familie wurde so schlecht beschrieben. Ihr Bruder lächerlich grausam, hatten irgend wie garkeinen Zweck im Buch nur um Drama zu sorgen.

Schreibstil hat mich auch nicht angesprochen.habs zwar in 3 Tagen fertig weil ich unbedingt wissen wollte wie es endet.

Peace out

Photo of Shy
Shy@shylin
3 stars
Sep 11, 2024

the show is better

Highlights

Photo of Raigan Correll
Raigan Correll@raigancorrell

I would never pretend not to know you Connell

Page 28

lowkey surprised this line came so early

Photo of Jojo
Jojo@roseyposey

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

The deeper I get into adulthood the more I can agree

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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.

Photo of Laura Dobie
Laura Dobie@MovingToyshop

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

Photo of Beliz Kaya
Beliz Kaya@beliz

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

Page 199
Photo of Beliz Kaya
Beliz Kaya@beliz

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.

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of larissa campos
larissa campos @ssecretgardenss

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.

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of larissa campos
larissa campos @ssecretgardenss

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

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of larissa campos
larissa campos @ssecretgardenss

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.

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of Cecilie Spangsberg
Cecilie Spangsberg@ceciliespangsberg

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

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

Photo of anne
anne@gh0stlikesreading

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

Page 255
Photo of sofia mae
sofia mae@sofyuh

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

Photo of kayla
kayla @cupidelocke

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.

felt

Photo of kayla
kayla @cupidelocke

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

Page 8

damn

Photo of Marta
Marta@springsofdelusion

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

Page 33
Photo of llikaditoo
llikaditoo @anzhelika

From a young age her life has been abnormal, she knows that. But so much is covered over in time now, the way leaves fall and cover a piece of earth, and eventually mingle with the soil. Things that happened to her then are buried in the earth of her body.

Beautiful imagery

Photo of llikaditoo
llikaditoo @anzhelika

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

Photo of llikaditoo
llikaditoo @anzhelika

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.

Photo of llikaditoo
llikaditoo @anzhelika

Life is the thing you bring with you inside your own head.

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