Sally Rooney’s second-ever novel, Normal People, published in 2018 has become the hit of the #BookNerds on TikTok and has probably become the most recommended book on BookTok.
Rooney’s collection isn’t very big, even though all her books have become popular on various social media platforms and amongst readers of all ages. Aside from Normal People, you might recognise Conversation with Friends or Beautiful World, Where are you? the former published before and the latter after Normal People. The Irish writer has received lots of praise from different media outlets and generally by readers, calling her novels “books that will become classics of this century”. In the next month, we can expect her newest book, Intermezzo.
Normal People follows two Grade 12 students in Ireland, Connell and Marianne, and their arduous relationship dynamics due to bullying from school and social status, going off to university and then into their adult lives. This book delves into topics such as family abuse, isolation, and toxic relationships, but despite the heavy topics discussed, the book is impossible to put down and is a fast read.
This book is the true “right place, wrong time” and then “wrong place, right time”. Let me make one thing clear, if you like happy stories with minimal conflict and good communication, this is not for you. This book will, in fact, infuriate you over and over again. Rooney does such a good job at making the reader yearn for their relationship, but yet and yet again, due to various difficulties between the two main characters, they will be kept apart.
Infuriating, but beautiful, is my final comment for the book, and for me is up on my list of best romance stories like La La Land and The Notebook.
The success of the book allowed Rooney to also turn it into a series with Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones as the two young adults at the head of the romance. The series received equal, if not more, praise than the book. A triumph for Rooney through and through, stealing millions of people’s hearts and maybe even a few tears.
