A book review
I was looking for something to do on a Friday night on the library website — because that is the best time to start a new book, endless time to finish. I didn’t have my book list on me so I decided to browse through the public library staff picks when I came across a book that did not look very normal despite its claim — Normal People by Sally Rooney. As per the description “Normal People is a book that you will read in one sitting, and then immediately share with your friends.” A bold claim and a challenge. I couldn’t let that pass.
As I started to read the book, I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Regular words, modern time, and western country setting. Everything familiar to me like the back of my hand. But I noticed the dialogues were grammatically different — no quotation marks. To be honest, I had no idea that was even possible, so cheers to Ms. Rooney for getting that trend going as I have never been able to grasp or utilize quotations accurately. It immediately attracts the reader’s attention as we are forced to focus so that we may distinguish between inner monologue and actual dialogue.
The people are normal. I guess — that is if you’re white and middle-class or rich. There is also a constant cloud of classism and how it impacts the everyday life whether it be Connell’s self-conscious denial of Marianne and the fact that his mother cleans her home or Connell’s discomfort when he arrives at Trinity amongst the throngs of trust fund babies. It can also be seen how wealth can subjugate oneself to ostracization and bullying in one sense — as we see Marianne being the butt of countless cruel humor in high school. Or it can also be power and envy in some situations as Marianne is always surrounded by friends and wannabes in university. These definitely allude some the slight but constant presence of Rooney’s Marxism presented through the plot and the characters’ opinions. All in all, not my normal but we all definitely know people like that, unless you re one yourself. But as I continued to read — I started to relive old memories. I found myself relating to these not-so-normal to me people.
We’re introduced to the two main characters from page one — a teenage boy named Connell from a working class family and a teenage girl Marinna from a rich family. They have the everyday teenage problem of homework, college admissions, popularity contests, bullies and prom. But these two find themselves bonding over something rare and common. They are both broken in ways only the other can salve, if only temporarily. One could say it is their love for one another that leads the plot or rather their inability to process such a strong bond. But I thought it was rather their discomfort with themselves or who they were becoming. I could say it was driven by Connell’s desire to be well liked in high school, or Marianne’s struggle to process her familial abuse or draw lines when things became destructive and toxic. But then again, it makes me wonder. Do we ever learn the perfect balance? Especially at such a young age when we are meant to be figuring these out through mistakes and experiences.
I found myself highlighting quotes throughout the novel. The novel so perfectly crystallizes profound truths we must have all felt or still feel as we figure through the mystery of life. Things I am sure we all will feel again and again, but Rooney has found simple words strung together in mind-blowing order which gets the message across concise and neat. Each of those monologues left me in awe and a moment of silent contemplation for each message. It felt like FINALLY being able to put a name to a song stuck in my head.
“Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was and become a part of it. She had that feeling in school often, but it wasn’t accompanied by any specific images of what the real life might look or feel like. All she knew was that when it started, she wouldn’t need to imagine it anymore.”
I won’t be giving all the spoilers away but there is one quote that struck me at the very start of the book which really sealed the deal for me at page 26: “Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever out where it was and become a part of it. She had that feeling in school often, but it wasn’t accompanied by any specific images of what the real life might look or feel like. All she knew was that when it started, she wouldn’t need to imagine it anymore.” Now, as a twenty-something, who still isn’t sure of much in her life, This hit me in the face with a brick. I have mindlessly attended one lecture to lecture or spent hours at work trying hard for something I wasn’t even sure I liked but was convinced was a rite of passage to be struggled through.
I won’t lie to you and say it’s a common book or a happy story. I am not sure there is anything about this book that made me happy. But I did come out with a renewed sense of peace, the kind that comes with a reassuring smile from a friend when your palms are slick with sweat while you look at college applications or talk to that cute boy in class. But also from the numerous half-whispered secret admissions you hear in lecture on a cramming night at the library past midnight from a fellow classmate who also has no idea how to deal with crushing debt or unemployment or from the colleague you bumped into way after 5 pm on a Friday night who’s also spitting out hot billables while simultaneously questioning her career choices. Most of all, if you’ve ever felt that nagging, nasty part thing in life which exists in our own minds or our family/friend whose constant job was to question every single decision and aspect of your life while trying to survive and live — you’ll relate. Because that’s what normal people are.
I think the author describes it the best — two people growing in one pot. They take from each other and grow. I have always found myself thinking and vocalizing that being young is way more task then it should be. It’s tough. Because of the lack of personal references available, we often magnify the present and our achievements. Every decision is profound and monumental. Every little thing is bigger than it would be in 60 years. But that’s just it, isn’t it? We haven’t lived another 60 years. We’ve only seen 20 and in that narrow timeline, so every decision is and will be life altering. I think our lives are like family trees. At old age one can sit down and trace back every decision in life to a monumental few which we took in our earlier formative years. We’re the offspring of our decision — literally. I guess that’s why some call it a decision tree…never thought of it like that. Perhaps my comparison wasn’t so original after all. But you get the point. I’ll award you with another quote from the book which I neatly sums up what I had been rambling about the past paragraph, which, again, goes to show why Rooney is the skilled writer and not I “I think we’re at that weird age where life can change a lot from small decisions.”
I pulled the book up while writing this review. As I started into my screen, not knowing where to start, I came to a start when I realized the bare basic white lines in the colorful cover actually outlined something. A boy and a girl.
