Masuk Free Press

By LAUREN CHIPDEY, ANASTASIA TSICHLAS, & SARAH VERRASTRO

Anastasia: Overall, I was not a fan of this book. I did not have high hopes from the beginning and as much as I powered through, this was not the book for me.

Starting off, I was not a fan of the stylistic choices the author made. Even though this book is fairly short, only around 300 pages, it requires really close comprehensive reading to follow it, making it a longer read than I originally anticipated. 

On top of that, although there is dialogue, there is not a single quotation mark in the entire book. This made it really hard for me to follow what was an internal thought versus what was being said, and when there were multiple people in the conversation it was easy to lose who said what. 

As far as the content of the book, I felt as though the book was repetitive and a lot of situations seemed out of place. While I understand where the author is coming from by sending the characters into spirals that they cannot break from, something about it did not sit right with me, like there was something more that they were not fully getting at. Every time-jump showed Marianne and Connell in the same type of situation as the last, but with a different supporting character there as well.

I did enjoy the role reversal with Marianne and Connell’s social situations and seeing how it affected them personally. And while I enjoyed that Connell had to reflect on how he acted and treated Marianne during high school, I felt that he did not take enough accountability until the end of the book. When he finally started to talk out his actions and emotions with the counselor was when I finally felt myself empathizing with him.

And with Marianne’s character, as much as I sympathized with her and her situation, something held me back from fully connecting to her and made me feel detached from her story. 

In the end, this book was not for me and while I understand what people would enjoy about it, it is not something that I personally prefer. 

Sarah: Normal People. It seems ironic at first, yet in reality it challenges the fictional idea of normalcy that humanity has created. Admittedly, this book is different. The characters are different. It is undeniably an acquired taste. But I believe that is the beauty of it.

A lot of people do not like this book and I think it just goes to show how seldom people without mental illness can connect with people who do have mental illnesses, which is the very basis for Connell and Marianne’s relationship. They understand each other in a way no one else can, or sometimes even want to. 

Normal People really pulls into question society’s definition of “weird” and what lies behind the facade of those people we deem so. Weird and normal are subjective terms, they mean something different to everyone. We see this in the supposed switch in the pair’s social lives when they go to college and spend time with people from other backgrounds outside of the tiny town they have always lived in. 

There is so much to learn from this abbreviated version of Connell and Marianne’s young adult lives, both together and apart. From the issues of domestic abuse to getting psychological help when you need it to knowing when you truly love someone, Rooney impressively weaves a story that feels more like a fact than fiction.

I can confidently say that I loved this book and intend to read more from the author Sally Rooney. It is full of intelligent conversations that many avoid to the detriment of society’s general empathy, and I think that is incredibly important to recognize. 

Lauren: My feelings on this book are largely split – I did not necessarily enjoy reading it, but I also could not put it down. It definitely was not a fun read, a piece of lighthearted entertainment. It forces you to think, and while I do not necessarily want to think most of the time, I really did appreciate the points that the book got across. 

Let’s start with the parts that I did not enjoy. Honestly, it was just painfully awkward. I suppose that is part of the charm, but I was really just sitting there wincing. Rooney was able to masterfully elicit some feelings of misery and self loathing, which is a credit to her writing, but not super duper comfy. Characters kept making the same mistakes, and it seems like some wildly unnecessary things were thrown in just for the shock factor. I DESPISE the miscommunication trope, which ran rampant through this novel. 

The writing style was initially hard to follow, but while that made it difficult to get into the book, once you are used to it it really does beautifully add to the tone. 

Rooney uses scattered and blunt writing to help readers get inside of the messy minds of Marianne and Connell. She tackles some complex topics in this book – anxiety, depression, abuse – and illustrates how mental illness’s impact can manifest in everyday life and relationships, from borderline toxic codependency to strange sexual coping mechanisms. 

It is meant to make you uncomfortable, meant to make you think, meant to challenge your mental fortitude and flexibility. Overall, it was a fantastic book.