Normal People - Salley Rooney

I had been putting off writing this review for the longest time because of how conflicted I feel about this book.  Initially, I didn't know what I thought about the book, but after weeks of contemplating and reading other reviews, I have an opinion.  

I think the title ‘Normal People’ is very apt for this book for it just shows the hard and unabashed normalcy of life.  The main characters, Connell and Marianne, were complex but Salley Rooney made sure that we got to know them and never feel attached which would be a negative if it was any other book but this a book that intends to show that itself. Connell and Marianne gravitate towards each other and their lives remain entwined for the entirety of the book; this creates a false image to the reader that the ending will have been be together and live happily forever. The end was as ambiguous as it could have been. It was very frustrating to me when the book ended without giving the readers a sense of finality about where Marianne and Connell stood. It felt as if the book had ended at another one of their periods of separation, which might very well be true and indicate the normalcy of it all. 

It wasn't necessarily a bad book but it was different from what I'm used to reading. I can appreciate the book’s perspective but I still am not a huge fan of how it ended.

3/5