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A review by nora13hf
Normal People by Sally Rooney
4.0
original rating: 5 stars
re-read rating: 4 stars
ooof. i think this was my third time re reading normal people and i think i'm finally at a point where i can review this properly.
so i love love love the first 3/4 of this! i really do, it's such a soothing read for when i feel super overwhelmed (which is why i picked this up again this time) and connell and marianne are both very special and important characters to me and i always feel very seen reading this. personally, i don't see this as a love story per se, and i stand by that, but rather as a very layered exploration of these two characters and what problems different class statuses (and miscommunication lol) can bring to relationships.
i knocked this down from five stars (to my surprise!) because the unraveling, so everything that happens after marianne goes to sweden, felt quite fast and hectic and just a bit too sudden? and then it got resolved rather quickly as well. i find it especially unrealistic (not that it needs to be realistic but ya know) that marianne is able to seemingly move past all her issues with food, her body and her trauma without any professional help whatsoever and is just okay, is fine at the end.
so, long story short, i still love this book, i still love sally rooney, i love seeing myself in fictional anxious english students, and i will definitely revisit this in the future, it's just not a perfect 100% read for me anymore (and that's okay)!
re-read rating: 4 stars
ooof. i think this was my third time re reading normal people and i think i'm finally at a point where i can review this properly.
so i love love love the first 3/4 of this! i really do, it's such a soothing read for when i feel super overwhelmed (which is why i picked this up again this time) and connell and marianne are both very special and important characters to me and i always feel very seen reading this. personally, i don't see this as a love story per se, and i stand by that, but rather as a very layered exploration of these two characters and what problems different class statuses (and miscommunication lol) can bring to relationships.
i knocked this down from five stars (to my surprise!) because the unraveling, so everything that happens after marianne goes to sweden, felt quite fast and hectic and just a bit too sudden? and then it got resolved rather quickly as well. i find it especially unrealistic (not that it needs to be realistic but ya know) that marianne is able to seemingly move past all her issues with food, her body and her trauma without any professional help whatsoever and is just okay, is fine at the end.
so, long story short, i still love this book, i still love sally rooney, i love seeing myself in fictional anxious english students, and i will definitely revisit this in the future, it's just not a perfect 100% read for me anymore (and that's okay)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse