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A review by angelayoung
Normal People by Sally Rooney
4.0
Sally Rooney’s Normal People doesn’t romanticise our romantic relationships (romantic in the sense of an idealised view of reality). Instead it honestly and accurately reflects the way our relationships often are: difficult to understand, disentangle, accurately interpret emotionally ... difficult to do anything other than be inside them, subject to their emotional pushes and pulls. We misinterpret the signs because we can only interpret them according to what we know about how we feel, or expect to feel, and when we're young we don't know that much (and, if we haven't grown up with good - or even any - adult examples of what a healthy emotional relationship is, how can we know or do anything else?). And also, the deep emotional pull of attraction to another is often unfathomable anyway (or rooted in unconscious desires that we have yet to unearth).
But the thing is Rooney's so good at all this, even though she's not yet thirty. And I think that's because she's an acute observer and an honest reporter of the way we are.
Also, a small thing, but the dialogue isn't punctuated. Which I find refreshing. As if it flows from personality just as it does in life. Very often we don't know what we're going to say until we say it. We certainly don't highlight what we're saying the way quotation marks highlight speech in fiction. The novel I've just begun does the same thing (Do Not Feed The Bear by Rachel Elliott, since you ask) and this lack of punctuation helps elide the gap between reader and character. Which is always a good thing.
But the thing is Rooney's so good at all this, even though she's not yet thirty. And I think that's because she's an acute observer and an honest reporter of the way we are.
Marianne knows how he feels about her really. Just because he gets shy in front of her friends doesn't mean it's not serious between them - it is. Occasionally he worries he hasn't been sufficiently clear on this point, and after letting this worry build up for a day or so, wondering how he can approach the issue, he'll finally say something sheepish like: You know I really like you, don't you? And his tone will sound almost annoyed for some reason, and she'll just laugh.No explanation, no interpretation, just the way it is. Which allows us to recognise what's going on. And to wonder if the characters will. And to worry about what will happen if they don't. Earlier, and from Marianne's point of view, after she's told Connell (who narrates above) that her father used to hit her mother and sometimes he hit her too:
Connell ... leans down and kisses her on the forehead. I would never hurt you, okay? he says. Never. She nods and says nothing. You make me really happy, he says. His hand moves over her hair and he adds: I love you. I'm not just saying that, I really do. Her eyes fill up with tears and she closes them. Even in memory she will find this moment unbearably intense, and she's aware of this now, while it's happening. She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person.But, a couple of pages on, Connell admits to himself that he doesn't know if what he said to Marianne is true.
It just happened, like drawing your hand back when you touch something hot.This is brave, raw real writing and I recommend it.
Also, a small thing, but the dialogue isn't punctuated. Which I find refreshing. As if it flows from personality just as it does in life. Very often we don't know what we're going to say until we say it. We certainly don't highlight what we're saying the way quotation marks highlight speech in fiction. The novel I've just begun does the same thing (Do Not Feed The Bear by Rachel Elliott, since you ask) and this lack of punctuation helps elide the gap between reader and character. Which is always a good thing.