Sally Rooney

Ernest Riera i Arbussà

Gent normal

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

Normal People

“Marianne,” he said, “I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.”

Keira Ostrosser

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.

nidsy

Marianne sometimes sees herself at the very bottom of the ladder, but at other times she pictures herself off the ladder completely, not affected by its mechanics, since she does not actually desire popularity or do anything to make it belong to her. 

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.

Marianne has never been with anyone in school, no one has ever seen her undressed, no one even knows if she likes boys or girls, she won't tell anyone. People resent that about her, and Connell thinks that's why they tell the story, as a way of gawking at something they're not allowed to see.

Now, you see, you think I’m a bad girlfriend. I’m being disloyal. Who wouldn’t want to beat me up?

She covers her eyes with her hand. She’s smiling, a tired and self- hating smile. 

It’s not that I get off on being degraded as such, she says. I just like to know that I would degrade myself for someone if they wanted me to.

 He was sad for Marianne after that, sad that nothing in her life had ever truly seemed healthy, and sad that he’d had to turn away from her. He knew that it had caused her pain.

Anlo Dumalaog

“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.”

juana de arco si estuviera cronicamente online

"How strange to feel herself so completely under the control of another person, but also how ordinary. 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."

Amelia

And you don't think you should have asked her? She says. Seeing as how you fuck her every day after school.

Rachel, he says, would you ever fuck off?

iya 

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

 Well, I don't feel lovable. I think I have an unlovable sort of ... I have a coldness about me, I'm dificult to like.

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 years have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life.

He stares at the webpage again. Lately he's consumed by a sense that he is in fact two separate people, and soon he will have to choose which person to be on a full-time basis, and leave the other person behind. 

“he has a terrible sense all of a sudden that he could hit her face, very hard even, and she would just sit there and let him”

Ariane

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

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...

Rebecca Moraglia

How strange to feel herself so completely under the control of another person, but also how ordinary. 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.

jo ｡✩

nica

Things that happened to her then are buried in the earth of her body. She tries to be a good person. But deep down she knows she is a bad person, corrupted, wrong, and all her efforts to be right, to have the right opinions, to say the right things, these efforts only disguise what is buried inside her, the evil part of herself.

I’m just nervous, he says. I feel like it’s pretty obvious I don’t want you to leave.

In a tiny voice she says: I don’t find it obvious what you want.

I’m used to it, she says. I’ve been lonely my whole life, really.

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

I didn’t expect this book to be anything more than the other piece of prose by Sally Rooney. 

While I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the inner turmoil of the characters throughout their love story, I could not fully commit to empathising with them or supporting them in any way. To be honest, I didn’t really feel anything while reading their thoughts, almost like Marianne’s outer persona.

Still, I find beauty in the way Rooney‘s works linger with the aftertaste of the total acceptance of the world’s unexpectedness and ignorance. 

We’re all just characters playing our roles, after all.

Anzhelika Silkina

I didn’t expect this book to be anything more than the other piece of prose by Sally Rooney. 

While I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the inner turmoil of the characters throughout their love story, I could not fully commit to empathising with them or supporting them in any way. To be honest, I didn’t really feel anything while reading their thoughts, almost like Marianne’s outer persona.

Still, I find beauty in the way Rooney‘s works linger with the aftertaste of the total acceptance of the world’s unexpectedness and ignorance. 

We’re all just characters playing our roles, after all.

lauren

Impossible to dissect this book in one sitting
This is a very special book— now my favourite of all time (along w almond!) and I will treasure it forever.

I can see why this book isn’t for everyone (style/plot), but it just worked for me. It was so incredible to LIVE with these characters and I was genuinely captivated. I was planning to read this book when I was younger but am so happy I read it when I did. I can’t express how much I love this novel😭😭 well done, Sally Rooney!

Greer Andersson

✰✰✰
I think I just didn’t GET this book. Everyone seems to love it, and while I can definitely see the appeal, and for sure enjoyed it myself, I just didn’t fall in love with this one.

I usually don’t mind character-centric stories, but I just felt I didn’t relate enough to either of the main characters and truly to me, the story felt incomplete.

While I’m glad I read it, and it definitely was a worthwhile read, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t love this as much as everyone else seemed to.

Lauren R

Ich weiß echt nicht, was ich von diesen Menschen halten soll. Echt wirklich so gar nicht. 

Leon

sani

“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. she knows he loves her, she doesn’t wonder about that anymore.

normal people was such a rollercoaster ride and it's a pity so many people dislike it. i think the whole point of it was to show the lives of normal people. normal people are messy with a messy life. it's never easy, always complicated. 

i love how it was so realistic. not all people communicate easily. it is real. both connell and marianne are normal people who can't communicate, who are both going through their own lives. yes, a person's life isn't just about their love life, they've a whole life aside from the romance perspective and normal people showed it so well. 

it was so easy to relate with both of the characters. connell’s anxiety, his need to please others as well as marianne’s constant loathe for herself, the need to feel something, it was too much on point. too much that it scared me sometimes. 

marianne and connell were two normal people, just like you and i. this is one of the best reads of 2023. 

ALSO, the mention of palestine liberation and the war in gaza. you've to love sally rooney for that.

about 4.5* tbh. i just finished it so i still have to think about it but it was much much better than conversations with friends. i loved that it was basically a study of two people's characters changing over the years, i loved seeing their reactions to events and changes. the plot felt secondary, but i also couldnt wait to see what would happen next between them. their emotions felt so real i had slight chest pains during the bad moments.

arwen

Keila Rico 

moonstone

Nova

abby

“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.” 

normally, I don't want to be absorbed in a story that is quite sad or sorrowful. this book is not a romance book or an actual adventure one, but personally, it is so mundane. like oftentimes, I feel like my feeling, my current state included in the story because it is related when you are in the phase of growing up. I hate so much slow-burn, miscommunication but it just felt real when I read it. and aren't those moments happened every time? 
there were many heavy topics that must be bold, and not everyone able to get through in certain chapters.

 “Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.”  

This book is gorgeously written and how Ms. Rooney applied the words, those just amazing. At first it made me confused, but I went along just fine.

Slightly cliché prose but the tv series did a spectacular job in bring the book alive. 

Sakinah Safiee

Somehow simplified and complicated a relationship that was just so, human. Kinda left me empty inside after finishing 

Aspen

the first half of the book failed to hook me, thus i didn’t really feel connected with the characters. nonetheless, each page felt like it was happening right in front of me. it was so realistic and since there was no quotation marks, i was forced to visualize what the scene actually looked like. i had high hopes for this book and i prepared myself for heartbreak but surprisingly i didn’t cry. it was just painful and sad. i do think its a me problem but still this book is good :) 

connell and marianne’s relationship was complicated from the very start. they both had problems which later on became a hindrance to their supposed relationship. for me, i think they were to hung up the fact that they found both solace with each other and it must be comforting enough for them to disregard all the pain that they felt every time someone messes up. tbh it was toxic but again it was a realistic set up which i liked. both of them did not deserve to experience what they went through. it fucked them up greatly when all they wanted to be was normal people. 

anyway sad thing is there was actually something but God the circumstances !!!!!!!!!!!

3.75 ⭐️s

the first half of the book failed to hook me, thus i didn’t really feel connected with the characters. nonetheless, each page felt like it was happening right in front of me. it was so realistic and since there was no quotation marks, i was forced to visualize what the scene actually looked like. i had high hopes for this book and i prepared myself for heartbreak but surprisingly i didn’t cry. it was just painful and sad. i do think its a me problem but still this book is good :) 

connell and marianne’s relationship was complicated from the very start. they both had problems which later on became a hindrance to their supposed relationship. for me, i think they were to hung up the fact that they found both solace with each other and it must be comforting enough for them to disregard all the pain that they felt every time someone messes up. tbh it was toxic but again it was a realistic set up which i liked. both of them did not deserve to experience what they went through. it fucked them up greatly when all they wanted to be was normal people. 

anyway sad thing is there was actually something but God the circumstances !!!!!!!!!!!

permanently altered my brain chemistry, also in therapy.

kait

this was the worst book i read all year, i hated every single word! the characters were so dumb and they made stupid choices and there was ZERO chemistry. i don’t ever even want to look at this book again.

Do I regret dnfing this book? No. Did the show change me forever in ways I can't describe and leave a hole in my heart? Yes

Manda

never been this happy and satisfied with a book ending before

renata hernandez

Amei, Marianne most relatable character ever HOWEVER it got very dull by the end but still cried still loved

Alice Argentino

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.

Bella Baxter

I almost screamed in the gym because what in the absolute hell was that nothing ending LMFAO. This is like the Fyre Fest of books, like, imagine the thrill of anticipation and then when you get there, it's the parking lot of an abandoned mall. This story is about as interesting as a blank page!

I'd love for someone who liked it to tell me what they got out of it because I got absolutely nothing and felt nothing. Not for myself, and definitely not for any of these characters. Except Lorraine, because she told that boy exactly what he needed to hear. The worst part of it is like, there's no reasoning behind why they are the way they are. If it is a slice of life read, there's gotta be SOMETHING intriguing about them apart from being self-absorbed or broken. I can empathize with even the worst, most flawed characters in the world IF I understand why they are the way that they are.

Some throwaway thoughts:
-Connell's narration is strange. Idk. Incoherent, almost. And maybe that's a character voice thing?
-There's SO much telling. Every single action and detail is described and it's meaningless. But I guess the book would have been half the length if that was cut out. What I will say is that there are some moments were her writing really sparkles and I wish she'd leant more into the purple, lol. Otherwise, it's a bit mundane.
-I find it interesting that Sally Rooney pretty much ignored every writing "rule" out there, and honestly, I applaud her for that. If she can be this successful by writing whatever she wants, that encourages me to ignore it all tbh.
-Does Connell think of Marianne (or any woman) as anything other than something to put his dick in?
-Connell writes like a Boomer learning how to text. But he's supposed to be a successful writer. Ok!
-Fuck a warning, Connell should have beat Alan's ass. And speaking of Alan, goes back to my earlier point of understanding WHY he is the way that he is. His behavior doesn't make any sense otherwise. Unless that is the point?

I'm not gonna judge anyone's preferences, but for me, if this is how "millennial writing" is, or if S.R. is somehow supposed to be the example of literary greatness in our time...literature is doomed, I fear, lol. I kid, I kid. That's what I love about art in general, SOMEONE will connect with the things you create, and all of our ideas are special. It's a space for us to put whatever you want on the page, canvas, etc., and it's open to us all.

Overall, it's a good thing I did not spend any money on it lol, boy would I judge myself forever for it.

Mariana

At first, I didn't quite like Rooney's writing style, but by the end, I grew to enjoy it. 

I initially enjoyed this book a lot and had high hopes for it (that may have been my fault). However, by the middle of the story, it began to disappoint me and even gave me some anxiety at moments. I still liked it despite that, but it's definitely not between my favorite readings.

Teresa Bonifácio

To me “Normal People” is about a couple that’s so perfect for each other that screw up everything all the time! I fell in love with both of them but I also wanted to yell at both of them at the same time. 
To me this book is even better than “Conversations With Friends”. It hooked me from the first chapter.

Gent normal

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