Normal People

A Novel

By: Sally Rooney

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Now an Emmy-nominated a Hulu original series • New York Times best seller

"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. Courtney Sullivan).

One of the 10 best novels of the decade - Entertainment Weekly

Ten best books of the year - People, Slate, the New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson

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 & Country

Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life changing begins.

A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. 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.

Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. 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.

Praise for Normal People

"[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting." (The Washington Post)

"Arguably the buzziest novel of the season, Sally Rooney’s elegant sophomore effort...is a worthy successor to Conversations with Friends. Here, again, she unflinchingly explores class dynamics and young love with wit and nuance." (The Wall Street Journal)

"[Rooney] has been hailed as the first great millennial novelist for her stories of love and late capitalism.... [She writes] some of the best dialogue I’ve read." (The New Yorker)

©2019 Sally Rooney (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[Narrator] Aoife McMahon, a skillful actor with a gorgeous Irish accent, makes each personality idiosyncratic and believable, and perfectly captures their confusion at being young and emotionally innocent, and trying to be decent but with no idea how to manage it. Rooney's subtle writing and engrossing plot work with McMahon's nimble and witty performance to balance your sympathies on a knife edge between these unforgettable characters." (AudioFile Magazine)

“I’m transfixed by the way Rooney works, and I’m hardly the only one...like any confident couturier, she’s slicing the free flow of words into the perfect shape.... She writes about tricky commonplace things (text messages, sex) with a familiarity no one else has.” (The Paris Review)

"This superb book more than lives up to the high expectations set for it by Rooney's lauded first novel.... Showcasing Rooney's focus and ability in building character relationships that are as subtle and infinite as real-life ones, and her perceptive portrayal of class, Normal People gets at the hard work of becoming a person and the near impossibility of knowing if a first love is a true one." (Booklist)

"I went into a tunnel with this book and didn’t want to come out. Absolutely engrossing and surprisingly heart-breaking with more depth, subtlety, and insight than any one novel deserves. Young love is a subject of much scorn, but Rooney understands the cataclysmic effects our youth has on the people we become. She has restored not only love’s dignity, but also its significance." (Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter)

Intimate, devastating, brilliant

This book is absolutely gorgeous - so sad and real and familiar. It is absolutely deserving of all its many accolades, and it has received so many that I hardly need to leave my two cents to recommend it.

I’m only doing that because I’m shocked by the other user reviews. Who are these people? This is a novel, not an episode of Sesame Street. They’re complaining that the characters don’t “evolve”? First of all, they change immensely. Secondly, the story takes place over the course of the Marianne and Connell’s very young adulthood, between their final year of high school and then university. Who do you know that figures everything out in life by age 21 or 22? In reality, can people escape the pressures of their social class, the patterns of their upbringing, and overcome all of their insecurities or tie a neat bow around their complex intimate relationships, by that age?

And complaints about the timeline - do you all not understand the way this allows the world of the novel to grow outwards, to follow the flow of the characters thoughts so perfectly it always feels authentic and makes it impossible to put down, so that the reader is completely engrossed in the story, hardly ever aware that they’re reading at all?

Just because the book is about young people, I guess, doesn’t mean it is intended for them. This is not YA. Jesus.

Anyway, it is incredible.

An exquisite novel.

There’s a spare quality to this novel that is fantastically beautiful. The story lingers on its characters as they mature in an unflinching, loving way, not hesitating from delving into their complexity. It feels rare to read about goodness in characters—how love changes us.

boring

it was interesting at first and then it got boring, i wouldn't recommend it. it was kinda just bland.

Had to read it before the show

Wow. Get your tissues ready cause you’re in for a WILD, EMOTIONAL RIDE. 5 stars across the board. Beautiful.

Low experience

Bought because I saw that the book got good rating. The Audible version is not energetic and boring. They could have done a better job.

It's about the journey, not the destination

I enjoyed the format and the story a lot. The characters are developed in a very relatable matter. The author really makes an effort to describe feelings, to make you feel what they are feeling, and to me, she succeeds. The ending of the story feels a bit abrupt and a bit random. But I won't give any spoilers. I truly enjoyed the book, the wrapping up of the story is the only thing that left me perhaps wanting more. Maybe that was the purpose.

Refreshing

I loved the story. it was so refreshing that it did not follow the typical boy meets girl story. it was real life, it was messy in all the right ways. I do want a follow up though.

intricate and addicting

The reader never gets what they want, making this relatable and inspiring. The pair of main characters are each so multidimensional. A simply story done with intricacy!

Interspection without conclusion

While it was enjoyable it did not satisfy the questions it brings up. There were some
unclear motivations and characters.

The End

I Didn't fully appreciate this book until I finished listening to it . Then OMGIt hit me! Like eating a simple dinner : Then feeling utterly completely and totally satisfied!