True, the author was only 26 yes, the story took place in an Ireland where Catholicism no longer mattered, and everyone was a digital native and the narrator, Frances, was a new graduate who started the book in a modishly fluid friendship/relationship with the avowedly lesbian and definitely woke Bobbi. some of the best dialogue I’ve read.O f all the praise lavished on Sally Rooney’s first novel, Conversations with Friends – that it was glittering, witty, addictive, elegant, heartbreaking – only the insistence that it was especially contemporary, and “could sit with Lena Dunham’s Girls”, as the Sunday Times put it, didn’t seem entirely applicable. “ has been hailed as the first great millennial novelist for her stories of love and late capitalism. Here, again, she unflinchingly explores class dynamics and young love with wit and nuance.” - The Wall Street Journal is a worthy successor to Conversations with Friends. “Arguably the buzziest novel of the season, Sally Rooney’s elegant sophomore effort.

“ novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.” - The Washington Post It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t. Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. But when the two strike up a conversation-awkward but electrifying-something life changing begins.Ī year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin.

At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR- People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard CrimsonĪND BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR- The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & CountryĬonnell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. ONE OF THE TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE- Entertainment Weekly

“A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” ( People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, “a master of the literary page-turner” (J.NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES

Normal people by sally rooney