A review by bookhoarder93
Normal People by Sally Rooney

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

When I read the first page of the book I almost put it down. Why? Because I was really bothered by the stylistic choice to not use quotation marks to indicate dialogue. However, I soon found out the style made me more attentive to what was actually happening, it felt calm and relaxed in a way that felt like easy, informal conversation between friends, and it spoke to who the main characters are. All that aside, I couldn’t get back to the book quick enough. I read it in two days; on my lunch break, after work, in brief moments in between one thing and the next. I have to assume this obsessive reading can be attributed to the main characters. I did not love them. I did, but they also drove me a bit mad. I, of course, kept flipping pages to see how it would end. But there’s something else to the book, that I can’t quite nail down, that possessed me to devour its pages they way I did. With that being said, the ending was so abrupt and felt unresolved. But maybe that’s the point? The type of will-they-won’t-they story this was sort of had me knowing from early on the outcome. Beyond the main characters, we also got a look at some really interesting minor characters; they weren’t just background noise. I wasn’t absolutely blown away by this book, nor did I have some deep emotional response or revelation. But something has to be said for just how obsessively I thought about this book when I wasn’t reading it and how quickly I finished it. 
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