Normal People (Sally Rooney): Book Summary / Reflections

Normal People is the novel Sally Rooney is most well-known for. She also wrote Conversations with Friends and Beautiful World Where Are You but those stories are not as compelling as Normal People.

This blog contains spoilers, in case you haven’t read the novel yet.

-What’s a basic summary of the story line?

A modern love story that’s very realistic and very 21st century with all its flaws. Main characters Marianne and Connell lead an on-again-off-again relationship through which they get to mature and become better as people.

-What’s the moral of the story?

Normal people are not normal at all! The “normal” (socially popular) people in the story hurt other people all the time (especially the men and their violence towards women).

In the book, you read Marianne and Connell are basically the awkward types (although occasionally they fit in).

In this sense, the not so normal people (the two main characters) seem to be more humane (though they have several other serious issues of their own but violence and active

-What is the writing like?

Sally Rooney uses really plain language that makes it easy for the readers. Both sentence structure and the vocabulary. The dialogues carry no punctuation which is a bit unusual if you are used to normal grammar rules, but that makes the reading more flowy.

-What are the main themes of?

Social-class divisions, violence against women, abusive relationships, social pressure and mental health. The story is able to perfectly capture these issues but at no time does the author directly and openly lectures the reader.

-Is Normal People worth reading / listening?

Absolutely! I read it for a second time and found it absolutely gripping. There’s something about the simplicity of the love story of two people who cross paths again and again and over the years start to act more mature (or at least try).