Review: Sally Rooney’s 'Normal People'

 by Emma Pope

Sally Rooney is currently one of the most popular fiction writers out there. All three of her novels have garnered critical acclaim and commercial success. Hailed as a voice of her generation and the writer of future classics, Rooney is seeing success after success with no signs of slowing down. There appears to be no limit to what she might achieve.

Although Rooney is best known for her novels, she has an extensive history of writing, having also written a number of essays, poems and pieces of short fiction in addition to editing for magazines. Rooney is also academically accomplished, having completed both a degree in English and a master's in American Literature. Although she first completed a novel when she was fifteen, she did not publish one until she was twenty-six. This was her 2017 debut entitled Conversations with Friends. It was quickly followed by Normal People in 2018 and Beautiful World, Where Are You in 2021. Each of the three novels have been widely praised by critics and the media, gaining Rooney a number of award nominations and wins. In 2020, Normal People received a twelve-part TV adaptation, which had a similarly positive reception. Conversations with Friends is also set to receive a TV adaptation that is slated to begin airing on May 15th. Rooney is beyond a doubt already an accomplished writer. Her prolific status and the hype around her convinced me to read one of her novels.

I chose her sophomore novel, Normal People. The book is well regarded, having been longlisted for the Man Booker prize and having won the 2018 Waterstone’s book of the year. The Guardian claims “that pleasure, of being touched by great art, is to be had in reading the story of [main characters] Connell and Marianne.” Readers on book social media site Goodreads have given the novel an average rating of 3.85 stars. Yet despite hundreds of glowing reviews, I didn’t like the book.

My first grievance is the unusual writing style. Despite containing dialogue, there isn’t a single speech mark in the novel. Whilst this is a stylistic choice, and, for the most part, it works fine, it does not enhance the novel in any way. In fact, there were several points where I had to reread a section several times in order to ascertain who was speaking. The other notable thing about the writing style is the use of time skips. Each chapter heading states how much time has passed since the ending of the last chapter. These time skips range anywhere from five minutes to seven months. This means the novel is more akin to a set of fragmented moments and encounters, instead of a traditional flowing plotline. The chapters also often contain flashbacks within them, sometimes more than once, meaning you can have a chapter that is 4 months ahead of the last, with a flashback to an event that occurred two months after the end of the last chapter. None of this is necessarily a detriment to the novel, in fact for the most part the time skips were well-integrated and I found them interesting. However, sometimes this skipping ahead meant the loss of explanations or context. Connell or Marriane (the protagonists) would have experiences, but there would be no indication of how they got into those situations, or why they were allowing certain, sometimes horrible, things to be done to them. Chapters left me with more questions than answers, and although this makes the novel an interesting debate topic, it fails to create a tangible plot.

My other main issue with the novel is the characters. The novel centres around the lives of Connell and Marriane, following them from the tail end of high school into college (British university). Marriane is rich and an outcast, contrasting social, athletic and well-liked Connell. Initially, the two characters primarily interact because Connell’s single mother works as a cleaner for Marriane’s family. Later down the line, they both attend Dublin’s Trinity College, where their social standings are quickly reversed. The novel is technically a romance, yet Connell and Marriane felt fundamentally incompatible to me. Their lack of communication, personal issues and different social circles meant they were constantly hurting each other. Whilst the pair claimed to love each other, the attraction between them only ever seemed to be physical. As soon as emotions got involved, things went wrong. I struggled to root for the pair when their decisions annoyed me, particularly Marriane’s. Rather than empathising with her hardships, I just found her irritating and unlikeable. I had no desire to see her succeed. Nothing about the pair's relationship felt healthy, and I desperately wanted them to give up and move on with their lives. Both characters needed to heal, but that was impossible whilst they were together. Without spoiling major aspects of the story, I can’t discuss the ending, but I can say I found it highly unsatisfying and lacking closure.

I would like to emphasise that all of this is my opinion and that many people rightfully enjoy the novel. Rooney’s writing certainly has points of beauty, and I can’t deny the fact she is a talented writer. Certain passages certainly struck me. Yet as a complete entity, I simply don’t enjoy Normal People. Reading it was a valuable experience, and I don’t regret it, but I am unlikely to recommend the book as something I enjoyed.