Normal People
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan).
“[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—The Washington Post
ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE
TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson
Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At 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.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Normal People is the 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 that they can’t.
WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award
BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Irish author Sally Rooney’s second novel is a sharply observed story about growing up and learning to love. Connell is a popular kid from the wrong side of the tracks, while Marianne is a rich, slightly awkward school outcast. From their respective childhoods in rural west Ireland to their college years in Dublin, Marianne and Connell struggle to square their shared intelligence and passion with the calcified gender and class politics that define so much of their lives. Normal People is both a timeless love story and a resonant cautionary tale. Rooney’s characters feel poignantly, painfully real—we wished her book were twice as long.
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
Good Read
It was a good read. I enjoyed the book. It kept me anticipating something around the corner. I felt like some big secret was still hidden, but never revealed.
4.35/5
He would give up on his dreams for her but sh e wouldn’t let him.
I do like the characters. The end was special cause he would stay if she wanted him to but she let him go. Their love was selfless in that way. I liked marianne more than conell because he almost never appreciated marianne the way i thought she deserved between hiding her in hs and having a different gf, while she would always be okay with him coming back to her. She never got fed up. He was truly the only person who showed her kindness consistently so it wasnt like she had other options. The power imbalance in the relationship allowed to act how he did from the beginning to end, which was sad to watch for mariannes sake. I also rlly like the trope of disagreeable women not being loved and provokes an interesting discussion of sexism within the realm of relationships.
Ugly and beautiful all at once
The realism in this book is so spot on that it’s terrifying to read and realize, wow; people can be so beautiful and so ugly all at once. The human experience at its best and worst in this.