"Disclaimer: I understand that Normal People is very popular and much beloved. While I recognise that Rooney has talent, I found Normal People to be a mediocre read. If you dislike reading reviews expressing opinions different from your own, well, I suggest you skip this review. There are plenty of glowing reviews out there for this novel so there really is no need for you to waste your time leaving me a comment along the lines of 'you are wrong and here's why'. Also, note that I wrote this review in 2018 and not recently.


If you believe that characters who dislike themselves, shrug a lot, and say "I don't know" 24/7, are very deep and realistic, well this may be the perfect read for you.
Or if you enjoy reading about "in" authors...look no further.

If you are thinking about reading this novel, I suggest you listen to instead, since it will take you less time and you will get the same story.

At first I enjoyed Rooney's style, the way in which she juxtaposed ordinary moments with emotionally charged ones and the uncertainty that pervaded her story, but I soon found her style rather hollow and impersonal, in a manner that soon became predictable. There was a flatness to her voice that seemed affected, and gave her story an artificial quality. I had the impression that Rooney was trying to conjure a certain millennial "vibe" through her characters and their experiences, one that isn't all that effective or interesting.
The central figures of her novel, Connell and Marianne, lacked depth and, as stupid as it might sound, character. Their looks were emphasised in a way that made them "stand out" from others: they are skinny and beautiful, they smoke, they make languid movements, they are smart, and unlike their peers they actually care about world politics. Throughout the course of this novel we are told how different and special they are, that's literally me type of characters.
Marianne comes from a wealthy and abusive family (we are supposed to feel bad for her), Connell was raised by his mother and suffers from bouts of anxiety and depression (we are also supposed to feel bad for him). That they have issues that they can't cope with is realistic, but what I didn't appreciate is the romanticising of their difficulties. What I didn't like is that being "alienated" is synonym of "cool" and that seeking sadomasochistic relationships is understandable/inevitable if you come from an abusive family (i understand that this happens, and a lot of media manages to portray this reality, that of being a victim who either choose or fall into toxic relationship, or actively seek partners or friendships that emulate old patterns of abuse, with nuance, depth even. but rooney doesn't, for all her attempts at candid reality, her depiction of this struck me as sentimental and simplistic).

Rooney handles serious issues (eg. an abusive family, depression, etc.) very badly (a book that handles trauma and self-harming incredibly well is What Red Was by Rosie Price), there we see why the characters behave in self-destructive ways, but in NP these things seem merely props).

Marianne and Connell aren't terrible people but god, they are so self-involved. Their relationship is made to appear fraught but I didn't always understand why. Drama for the sake of drama? They enter forgettable relationships with equally forgettable people but they remain fixated on each other. Why? No one knows...
Marianne is depicted by the author and the other characters as being the sort of person who does not to care about others' opinion of her but soon after a breakup with a cliched dick boyfriend she is obsessed with what people are saying about her...Connor is...intelligent? Indecisive? As interesting as a stale sandwich?!

Secondary characters and family members are barely sketched out, they have little to no purpose other than creating more "drama" for the main characters. Marianne's family was so badly written that I had a hard time taking any of them seriously. Her brother is laughably cruel and her mother is uncaring and snobbish (they are rich so...). Friends from college serve very little purpose, other than making the main characters seem "different" and "real" (they are special, not like other people).

What I disliked the most is that by the end neither Marianne or Connell show any sort of character growth/change. Not that I always want to read about characters who learn from their mistakes or gain some sort of insight from their experience, I can appreciate characters who keep perpetuating their 'bad' behaviour or even those who get worse or regress into 'bad' habits/behaviour, some of my favourite novels feature characters unable or unwilling to put an end to their self-sabotaging ways. But they have to be believable. Marianne or Connell were not. They were merely an 'aesthetic', more befitting as subjects of a black and white grunge photo than anything else.

The only reason why I finished this novel is that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator managed to make this otherwise unappetising storyline sort of okay."