Sally Rooney’s Normal People is a novel that has been buzzed about since it came out in 2018, and then there is the TV miniseries that aired in 2020 that, again, people seem to not be able to stop talking about. I came across Normal People the novel while I was browsing books to buy on Bookoutlet.ca and decided to give it a read, but I tempered my expectations because I find that heavily hyped books usually do not turn out as good as I hope. With Normal People, though, I was surprised to find myself totally engrossed by it. It is an interesting story about two flawed characters with emotional and behaviour issues. These characters often wish they were “normal people”, but Normal People has me ruminating on the concept of the “normal person”. Is there even such a thing? We all have our issues, which we mostly keep hidden from other people, so maybe we all are “normal people”?

The novel is set in Ireland and opens in January 2011 when Connell and Marianne are seniors in high school. Connell is athletic, popular and liked by everyone, but he is not your stereotypical jock-type because he is also very smart, loves to read and is a top student in their grade. Marianne, on the other hand, is a loner and an outcast with no friends, but she is also a top student in their grade. Connell and Marianne know each other because Connell’s mother cleans Marianne’s house. They develop a mutual attraction towards each other that leads to a sexual relationship; however, Connell makes it very clear to Marianne that no one can ever find out about it, which Marianne goes along with for reasons that are revealed as we learn about her character.

Marianne eventually stops having anything to do with Connell when, at the end of their senior year, Connell invites another girl to the Debs (i.e. prom). But they reconnect not long afterwards during their first year at Trinity College. At this point, their roles are reversed: Marianne is the popular one with new friends and a new boyfriend and Connell is the loner, but they begin having sex with each other again, even though they still refuse to call themselves a couple, until the end of their first year of college when they break things off yet again.

Normal People is essentially a “will they or won’t they” story that follows Connell and Marianne during the early years of their adult lives and examines their friendship as they each reflect on whether they should be together. I know this may not sound at all interesting to some people, but the thing is, Sally Rooney has done a really great job of making Connell and Marianne compelling characters that you will feel sympathy for. Some readers may initially have a knee-jerk, repulsed reaction to Marianne’s sexual proclivities, but if you are not already the kind of person who can empathize with people, then you may find yourself thinking more empathetically about other people’s situations after reading this novel.

I am definitely now interested in watching the TV miniseries, if I ever find it on one of my many different streaming services. I am interested to see how the miniseries makes the characters sympathetic to viewers without the internal monologuing that makes up much of the novel. I do recommend reading Normal People, though, especially if you are drawn to more character-driven stories.