Review by leahhmorriss - Normal People

leahhmorriss 's review for:

Normal People by Sally Rooney

3.0

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Marianne and Connell were actually so infuriating throughout this entire book. I hate the miscommunication trope. I feel like their relationship was so toxic and they need to sort their own issues out and learn how to communicate before trying to love another person. Until the very last page they stressed me out.
Individually, my heart broke for them both and the things they had to go through were horrible. I loved Marianne so much and I feel like I deeply related to her so many times. Connell went through so much too but I think he frustrated me more when it came to Marianne because he seemed to be the one who was more off again/on again.
Fuck Alan, fuck that stupid teacher.
Special shout out to Lorraine, she was the best character.
Also, Sally Rooney, why don’t you fucking use speech marks. It was so annoying. I didn’t really love the writing style of this book and it was confusing how it went between flashbacks and present time randomly; I had to keep rereading parts.
I did enjoy this book overall and it was a great example of a real life relationship. I’m about to watch the TV show right now.

Content Warnings