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dontjudgeabrooke 's review for:
Normal People
by Sally Rooney
4.5 stars
I'm not sure I've ever experienced a book in quite the same way I experienced Normal People.
I was of two minds while reading it. On one hand, I could totally understand why people wouldn't jibe with it. It's definitely a character-driven novel with not a lot of plot to speak of, and the characters are flawed and incredibly frustrating at times, exhibiting a lack of communication skills that can make you want to smack them.
But on the other hand, I adored this book. I know it's going to be one of those books that makes me feel warm and fuzzy and nostalgic when I see it in a bookstore or someone else's hands. But the most confounding part is I'm not sure I even understand why I liked it so much, and that seems to be a common thread among many of the positive reviews. Although it's a slow-moving character study, something about it sucked me in immediately.
Sally Rooney's writing captures so precisely these intangible things that I would never be able to accurately put into words, and it really spoke to me. I'm not a very highlight-y type of person, but I ended up highlighting TWENTY-SEVEN passages within these pages. I was surprised over and over again by Rooney's ability to describe things I wasn't even sure other people felt or thought about, and I kept getting caught on certain lines that wouldn't let me go till they'd been underlined. This book, in much the same way as Marianne and Connell did for each other, made me feel less alone.
At the 100-page mark I acknowledged this was a potential 5-star read, but I also had a strange nervous fear that I was going to suddenly stop enjoying it at any moment. At the same time, I didn't want it to end, which is why it took me three weeks to read.
Marianne and Connell were immaculately realized, and I saw myself in each of them at various points. It's possible I wouldn't have been so fond of this book had that not been the case. I loved the observations on class and social standing and how those dynamics affected and infected their relationship. And I said an internal fuck when I realized that once again, I was relating most strongly to the character with the strained maternal/familial relationships, as was the case with Camille Preaker in Sharp Objects and the eponymous Lady Bird.
Stories that take place over a long period of time, that you sink into like a hot bath and that allow you to intimately know the people inside them and watch them gradually change and grow into themselves, are one of my favorite things. I'm happy to report that Normal People was no exception.
(P.S. This video brilliantly expounds the reasons this novel is so significant IMO.)
I'm not sure I've ever experienced a book in quite the same way I experienced Normal People.
I was of two minds while reading it. On one hand, I could totally understand why people wouldn't jibe with it. It's definitely a character-driven novel with not a lot of plot to speak of, and the characters are flawed and incredibly frustrating at times, exhibiting a lack of communication skills that can make you want to smack them.
But on the other hand, I adored this book. I know it's going to be one of those books that makes me feel warm and fuzzy and nostalgic when I see it in a bookstore or someone else's hands. But the most confounding part is I'm not sure I even understand why I liked it so much, and that seems to be a common thread among many of the positive reviews. Although it's a slow-moving character study, something about it sucked me in immediately.
Sally Rooney's writing captures so precisely these intangible things that I would never be able to accurately put into words, and it really spoke to me. I'm not a very highlight-y type of person, but I ended up highlighting TWENTY-SEVEN passages within these pages. I was surprised over and over again by Rooney's ability to describe things I wasn't even sure other people felt or thought about, and I kept getting caught on certain lines that wouldn't let me go till they'd been underlined. This book, in much the same way as Marianne and Connell did for each other, made me feel less alone.
At the 100-page mark I acknowledged this was a potential 5-star read, but I also had a strange nervous fear that I was going to suddenly stop enjoying it at any moment. At the same time, I didn't want it to end, which is why it took me three weeks to read.
Marianne and Connell were immaculately realized, and I saw myself in each of them at various points. It's possible I wouldn't have been so fond of this book had that not been the case. I loved the observations on class and social standing and how those dynamics affected and infected their relationship. And I said an internal fuck when I realized that once again, I was relating most strongly to the character with the strained maternal/familial relationships, as was the case with Camille Preaker in Sharp Objects and the eponymous Lady Bird.
Stories that take place over a long period of time, that you sink into like a hot bath and that allow you to intimately know the people inside them and watch them gradually change and grow into themselves, are one of my favorite things. I'm happy to report that Normal People was no exception.
(P.S. This video brilliantly expounds the reasons this novel is so significant IMO.)