Normal People

I wish there were half star ratings. Not my kind of book at all, but it went quickly.

I loved loved loved this. Started it at 8:00 finished at 2200. Everything from the characters to the story spoke to me. The ending I felt a “meh” but maybe that was meant to be. A great piece of contemporary fiction that feels all too familiar to a life I've lived

2.5/5 stars

I can definitely see how this book is so popular, and I'm sure I'm gonna love the adaptation, but overall the entire thing just felt pointless to me. I failed to get attached to the writing or characters and I spent more time wondering when it's gonna be over than actually reading.

Good book, but slightly underwhelmed (especially after all the hype).

I liked that the main characters were relatable (and likeable to a certain extent), and it did almost make me cry... but it just didn't feel “wow” enough for 5 stars.

“what they have now they can never have back again. but for her the pain of loneliness will be nothing to the pain that she used to feel, of being unworthy. 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.”

honestly i don't think i'll ever recover from this, i'm devastated. this book was so emotionally intense. it's almost indescribable how i felt reading this book. i was so invested in marianne and connell's relationship that sometimes i had to remind myself that they were fictional characters.

marianne and connell are so well-written that it's easy to relate to them both and impossible to prefer one over another. sally rooney's writing is very simple yet she's a genius at writing complex characters, which is the best quality a writer can have. she made marianne and connell feel real. i first wanted to rate this book 4 stars but then i decided that it fully deserves 5 stars for the reasons i mentioned and also because it's probably one of the best books i've ever read.

I felt exhausted by this book and when I finished it—a tangible sense of relief. The glimpses into these two characters' heads were skillfully and smoothly done, but both of them seemed so miserable it was hard to bare. The thing that kept me reading was this inexplicable sense of rooting for them and a (foolish) hope that they'd suddenly get it together enough to give and receive love. Maybe that was the point but it didn't connect for me. And the main characters are the worst but also all the side characters except for Connell's mom are THE worst.
*** personal note whitest thing I could've possibly been reading right now. Update- the Hulu series made me like the book more. Not having to be ‘in' their heads made the story more enjoyable for me.

i admit that i decided to read this book after watching the series. and i'm glad to know that like the series, it pierces your soul in a painful way, but leaves a bitter pleasure. personally, both versions served as a reconciliation of my own emotions through other people's lives. i want to read it again for the first time.

Second Sally Rooney book i've read and equally just as bad.

idk if the world is hyping her books as a big joke or am i just missing something?
The Sally Rooney cult is huge and i was hoping to like her so i can be one of the SR girls but no :((

one star for the audiobook narrator, two for connell's mental health journey, three for connell's anti-rich people snobbery. but let's be clear; otherwise, i really didn't care for this book

the main issue of this book is that it features two people who desperately need therapy and to work on their communication issues, but only one of them does, and we're left to suffer with the other one wandering about life with seemingly no purpose. i liked connell especially after starting university, since a lot of his depression and anxiety was relatable and understandable, but i would literally roll my eyes whenever marianne tumbled back into her life.

better than conversations with friends, made even better thanks to the audiobook and irish accents, but still... not something i really enjoyed in total

Good book, but slightly underwhelmed (especially after all the hype).

I liked that the main characters were relatable (and likeable to a certain extent), and it did almost make me cry... but it just didn't feel “wow” enough for 5 stars.

3.5 stars

I heard a lot of good things about this book but it just wasn't for me. I read it in Swedish so maybe that contributed to some of the misunderstandings. The writing was a bit confusing and it got a bit boring towards the end so I think I would've liked it more if I just skipped 50 pages to the end. The beginning was good but then it just went downhill for me personally.

The most frustrating characters. 3.5

This book has my heart. The whole thing feels like the best and worst nostalgia and I absolutely loved it.

One sentence synopsis... A critique of the dysfunctional power dynamics of relationships under capitalism disguised as a will-they-won't-they love story between two millennial Irish intellectuals. .

Read it if you liked... ‘One Day' by Dave Nicholls (the book, not the movie... the movie was a disaster, Anne Hathaway's accent is a disgrace, it's painful to watch). .

Dream casting... turns out Hulu is already all over this casting Daisy Edgar-Jones as bookish and strange Marianne and Paul Mescal as popular jock Connell.

Would it be rather some cliché to talk about relationship in a book? Honestly, shift that position of Connell and Marianne onto other types of relationships you have in life. Well, then you will end up finding some resemblance between yours and theirs.
In a modern society, on-and-off relationships are never any rare scenes. However, being centred as mostly sexual, yet friendly kind of relationship, it would be rather difficult to define its nature, and conventionalists might call this inappropriate and certainly, unadvised.
If all of the above is exactly what this chart-topping, bestselling book want to tell us, I would hardly give it a go. But now, on the second ride, I feel like there is something prominent enough for it to enter that position. It is not my Rooney favourite, obviously, but there is resonance of the relationship itself, happy mixing with unhappy moments, silent treatment and negligence with fervid conversations, misunderstanding with understanding, replaceability with irreplaceablility... This obfuscating sort of relationship is nothing abnormal or too fictional to get personal. Rather, I would think this is a perfect rendition of the modern definition of relationships.
So Normal People, is perfectly normal.

maaaaaybe 2.5

I really thought i'd like it a lot more but it was a chore to finish honestly. rooney's writing, while it added to the plot in conversations with friends, here it does nothing. and definitely not enough to make the book enjoyable. In fact, I think it made it less enjoyable.

for a character driven story, the characters lacked personality. They were very bland and static. They felt very “fake”, which made me feel very distant from them. I struggled to connect with them emotionally.

The inner conflicts that they're supposedly struggling with came across as whiny sometimes.

Things like eating disorders and domestic abuse were kind of just thrown in there and not well explored, or rather were not handled properly.

The ending was really abrupt and came out of nowhere.

Frustrating and engrossing.

👍🏼Pick It: For a heavy-bagged, home-hitting version of Harry Met Sally
👎🏼Skip It: If you damn any romance that deviates from Happily Ever After

“Well, that destroyed me,” I said, out loud, to no one in particular, when I closed this book.

Marianne and Connell are not living out a particularly unique trope. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy and girl can never get the timing right. Boy and girl feel too wrong to be right for the other. Rooney is the difference maker here. She pieces out truths and extracts fears that go unearthed by even the most self aware and vulnerable individuals.

The result: me, the reader, fighting the every-page urge to annotate passages of my library copy, rip sentences for later recycling to scream, “THIS! I FEEL LIKE THIS!”

Rooney is a prolific rarity in the character-driven plot. The way she lays out the ever-shifting dance or demise of Connell and Marianne's relationship is a dizzying masterpiece.

Sally Rooney is lit fic's Steph Curry. SHE DOESN'T MISS.

Loved it! Was curious because of the new BBC series that just came out and wanted to read the book before seeing that. Lovely characters and great observations about life in general.

“Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.”
“Generally I find that men are a lot more concerned with limiting the freedoms of women than exercising personal freedom for themselves, says Marianne.”

Abandoned at 20%
Bored as hell

Ikke helt der jeg trodde den skulle være, måtte lese den før jeg så serien siden den har stått på leselista mi i et år. Tematikken er interessant nok, gjennomføringen noe uforløst men kanskje akkurat sånn livet er? Tror Conversations with Friends treffer meg bedre? Er på tross av litt mumling her en meget god tekst.

I've not read a story as accurate about what it's like to go through college and university as this one. You'll be rooting for both Marianne and Connell, despite their flaws.

2.5/5

I did really enjoy this book but I feel like it's way overhyped. It is a good read overall though.