A review by louisesmith
Normal People by Sally Rooney

challenging emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had expected so much more from this book. After months of seeing it trending everywhere and seeing this book being so many people's favourite read of the year I really thought I was going to love it. For starters, the no quotation marks drove me absolutely insane - if you don't like this also avoid We Were Liars because I hated it in that novel too - the lack of punctuation made the flow hard to keep track of who was speaking and what they were saying which also made the story feel like it moved a lot slower. The time jumps also bugged me. Sometimes the time jump was a few weeks, other times it jumped forward several months. I understood the concept behind the Normal People title and the relation that had to the characters which when executed properly, could have been a very interesting read however this just wasn't it for me. It did get progressively better when Connell's mental illness came into the picture and Marianne's story was told, it gave the words meaning and significance. I definitely can appreciate the book looking back on it more than I could whilst in the moment of struggling to read through it as there were some very important aspects addressed that fit into the Normal People status but for the most part I unfortunately can't say I enjoyed this read. 
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