Normal People
Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney
Leaving the frivolities aside, I read this book in 2018 with the innocence of approaching something for the first time, unaware that almost two years later, it would become a literary phenomenon.
What at first seems like a typical teenage story—girl meets boy, boy meets girl, they fall in love—Sally Rooney crafts into a portrait of intimacy, vulnerability, and the complexity of human relationships in a quiet, almost invisible way.
Despite being her second novel, it was the first of her works I read, and for some reason, I carried this book everywhere. It almost became a symbol of belonging to a non-existent club for people who felt connected to the "normal" emotions she captured in the love and friendship story of Connell and Marianne. I’d see someone on the subway, in a café, library, or bookstore with this book and feel like saying: I get it, I’ve felt that too. And I think that’s why, over time, Normal Peoplebecame a viral sensation online—it was the perfect refuge for Rooney-like characters who struggle to express their emotions, are overwhelmed by physical contact, feel everyday things with disproportionate sensitivity, and delve into seemingly superficial or mundane topics that hide a very subtle depth.
This is the book that takes me back to the solitude, insecurities, dreams, and questions I had at 15, living in a small town, and even now, at almost 30, it makes me wonder if anything has really changed.
Note
“There’s something liberating about being ordinary in a world obsessed with the extraordinary.”