Normal People
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4.3 • 585 Ratings
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- €11.99
Publisher Description
THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES AND TOP FIVE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A BBC ONE DRAMA ADAPTATION CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION
WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2018
WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF NOVEL OF THE YEAR AND BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019
Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins.
Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2019
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ENCORE PRIZE 2019
LONGLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We, like pretty much everyone fortunate enough to read it, adored Conversations with Friends. Sally Rooney’s debut was an exquisite dissection of human relationships, and her follow-up sees her writing evolve in stunning new ways. Normal People covers a tale as old as time: Boy meets girl; they confront conflicting social statuses, confused feelings and secrets; and circumstances threaten to keep the pair apart while we root for true love to prevail. But Rooney’s too good a writer to fall prey to cliché. Wonderfully generous with detail, she brings us into her star-crossed Irish lovers Marianne and Connell’s passions and idiosyncrasies. Within a few pages, it becomes very obvious that these two are anything but normal people.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rooney (Conversations with Friends) stuns with her depiction of an on-again off-again relationship between two young adults navigating social pressures. Connell is a popular soccer player at his school in Carricklea, Ireland. He embarks on a secret, mostly sexual relationship with Marianne, the socially isolated and mistreated daughter of the wealthy family Connell's mom cleans for. Connell's paranoia about social standing spoils their relationship when he asks another classmate to a school dance. When they connect again as students at Trinity College in Dublin, Marianne has found a stronger voice and a large group of friends while Connell struggles to adapt to college life. A miscommunication scuttles their second attempt at a relationship, and Marianne soon gets involved with a boorish student with sadistic sexual desires. She confides in Connell about her ambivalence toward rough sex, but he fails to act on his strong desire to protect her. Personal crises and dissembling about feelings push the pair alternatively together and apart up to an open-ended but satisfying conclusion. Rooney crafts a devastating story from a series of everyday sorrows by delicately traversing female and male anxieties over sex, class, and popularity. This is a magnificent novel.
Customer Reviews
Normal People
Absolutely amazing! Both Heartwarming and heartbreaking! Wish there was a better ending!
A journey
This gentle journey through teenage years and social boundaries brings the reader to many thought provoking places
A good coming of age read
I wasn’t overly impressed for this book. The style of writing annoyed me and took me a while to get used to. I found it very relatable, especially since I am Irish. There are a few references in it that are, I think, unique to Irish culture which some people may struggle to understand. As a whole it is a very good coming of age story, exploring the the emotional strains that young people go through while trying to find themselves in love.