Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

June 12, 2024

I must say, I really like Sally Rooneys writing, but spoiler alert it doesn’t really end. She leaves the story open ended so you, as the reader, can decide how you think it’ll end. Which, can be great, and some people really love that, but I was just really expecting it to wrap up in some way. It almost feels incomplete. I felt very connected to the characters very early on and felt like I related to so much of their lives. It usually takes me a little deeper in a book to really feel connected to a character, but I was reeled in right away.

We follow the journey from acquaintances to lovers to friends to partners and around and around between a girl named Marianne and boy named Connell. We see how their friendships with others and relationship together change them, and affect them. We set them open up to each other and allow one another in. We see how they really just cannot be away from each h other, and even if it meant never being able to be together in a committed romantic relationship, they will be connected no matter what.

This part of the story I feel particularly connected to.

I will say, this was a little more sexual than I anticipated, but it wasn’t terribly graphic. I will warn you of physical and emotional abuse, self harm and thoughts of suicide as well as mental health issues.