Name: Vojtech's review of Gent normal by Sally Rooney
Item: Gent normal
Rating: 4.5
Author: Vojtech

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

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.

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.

Marta

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

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

llikaditoo 

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.

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

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.

Vojtech

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. 

Elianne

idk it was like a cheesy fan fiction to me 

segyoung

Juanita

petrina

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

west

Weirdly did not get confused by the lack of quotation marks 

Emma

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... 

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... 

Normal people

anna 

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

LIMEKI 

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. 

alice l

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. 

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.

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.

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

Jazmín Mejía

Chase Leitner

Cici Pearson

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

Ich lieeebe den Schreibstil!

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

This book is definitely better than 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' but still slightly less fun than the Normal People TV show. As usual, the prose style is bit odd and characters greatly awkward. Which is part of the charm. All in all it is fun to read.

Vojtech &
Gent normal by Sally Rooney

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Gent normal by Sally Rooney