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A review by apollqs7
Normal People by Sally Rooney
5.0
“He has sincerely wanted to die, but he has never sincerely wanted Marianne to forget about him. That’s the only part of himself he wants to protect, the part that exists inside her.”
i would not describe the experience i had with this book as “reading”, much more as “living”.
this book takes your soul and your mind, completely changes them and then it gives them back to you, but you’re a different person, you changed with the characters, you have grown with them.
you read Marianne’s pain and you might be the less similar person to her, but you can FEEL it you can feel the fire of her feeling shuttering your and her soul.
at the same time, reading Connell’s mind developing, and listening to his thoughts, makes you lean into the character. you can understand him and in a some way you can understand why he is acting in some ways.
this book debates that well about the psychology behind every thought and action of every character that you reach an intimacy with every person in this book: you’re not you anymore, you’re a not-so-normal person living Connell and Marianne’s life, seeing them both grow together. you see their pain, their grief, their past, their dreams, ambitions. you see them changing.
but you’ll never see their feeling for each other vanish.
i mean it’s a pretty unconscious feeling the idea of “belonging to another person that much that you know they will always have an effect on you and nevertheless you will always go back to them even without noticing”, but everyone will find their north on the compass. Marianne and Connell found each other, they found comfort and hurt in each other.
i strongly believe that what makes you the happiest, what gives you pleasure, it’s often the same thing that hurt you in some way, and that’s okay, that’s life.
sometimes you just have to realize that sorrow is a fundamental part of growing up as much as comfort and happiness, maybe even more important. from pain you can heal.
and that’s what Marianne and Connell do, they heal each other from pain, every form of pain: “They’ve done a lot of good for each other. People can really change another”.
Marianne once said “I didn’t need to play any games with you. It was real” “I hope we can always take each other’s sides. It’s very comforting for me” and in the end she says “I’ll always be here. You know that.” and that is the point of the story, it’s like an infinity story between them that will forever end with one in the harms of the other, they really are each other’s north.
i would not describe the experience i had with this book as “reading”, much more as “living”.
this book takes your soul and your mind, completely changes them and then it gives them back to you, but you’re a different person, you changed with the characters, you have grown with them.
you read Marianne’s pain and you might be the less similar person to her, but you can FEEL it you can feel the fire of her feeling shuttering your and her soul.
at the same time, reading Connell’s mind developing, and listening to his thoughts, makes you lean into the character. you can understand him and in a some way you can understand why he is acting in some ways.
this book debates that well about the psychology behind every thought and action of every character that you reach an intimacy with every person in this book: you’re not you anymore, you’re a not-so-normal person living Connell and Marianne’s life, seeing them both grow together. you see their pain, their grief, their past, their dreams, ambitions. you see them changing.
but you’ll never see their feeling for each other vanish.
i mean it’s a pretty unconscious feeling the idea of “belonging to another person that much that you know they will always have an effect on you and nevertheless you will always go back to them even without noticing”, but everyone will find their north on the compass. Marianne and Connell found each other, they found comfort and hurt in each other.
i strongly believe that what makes you the happiest, what gives you pleasure, it’s often the same thing that hurt you in some way, and that’s okay, that’s life.
sometimes you just have to realize that sorrow is a fundamental part of growing up as much as comfort and happiness, maybe even more important. from pain you can heal.
and that’s what Marianne and Connell do, they heal each other from pain, every form of pain: “They’ve done a lot of good for each other. People can really change another”.
Marianne once said “I didn’t need to play any games with you. It was real” “I hope we can always take each other’s sides. It’s very comforting for me” and in the end she says “I’ll always be here. You know that.” and that is the point of the story, it’s like an infinity story between them that will forever end with one in the harms of the other, they really are each other’s north.