Normal People is a Magnum Opus

Love, class differences, sex, depression, and college life, this novel is an untypical story that
reflects love in a new, unknown spotlight.
Sally Rooney’s 2018 most anticipated release stunned thousands of readers with its new
approach to the romance genre. Normal People has been complimented by critics, longlisted for
the Man Booker Prize and made into a series adaptation.
Connell, an ambitious and well-adjusted boy, meets Marianne, a proud and reserved girl. They
both go to the same school but only start talking which each other first when Connell picks his
mother up from her job as a housekeeper. Unfortunately, Connell grew up in a poor household,
while Marianne's family derives from an upper-class status. Although the importance of class
plays a huge role in this book, ironically it is Connell that plays the liked and favored role in their
school life. In opposition to Marianne, which is looked frowned upon by her classmates.
After some conversations, Connell and Marianne start to bond with each other but decide to
keep it a secret, in favor of Connells upholding reputation, which he strived so hard for.
A year passes and they are both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Their lives turn upside
down as Marianne finds her place in the social world and Connell troubles fitting into the
College lifestyle. As adulthood slowly reaches both, Marianne veers into self-destruction and
Connell searches for the meaning of life, which he dissociates from. At this point, each must
face the longing and dissect their feelings for each other.
The novel analyses the messy relationship between two young adults, complicated by their
social and socioeconomic disparities. At its core, it deals with the evolving relationship of two
people rather than its counterparts, hence why this story is entirely different from others. We
do not follow a character but development and the growth of character through interacting
with other people. Also, worth mentioning is the main point of the relationship, that Connell or
Marianne could not have the same characteristics if they would not have the relationship
between each other, implying the characters wouldn’t exist without each other. The novel
teaches us the way relationships contribute to the people we are today.
Additionally, it discusses more vital themes like class divides, gender dynamics and debates
about capitalism and communism, the benefits of our society or lack thereof.

Thus, I believe that this short and easy-to-read novel can be seen as a “Magnum Opus” of Sally
Rooney’s work. Diving deeper into the novel’s debates it casually examines profound and
complex topics. Even though the title was created only after the content of the book was
finished, I think that it brilliantly explores the constant repetitive theme of the desire of
belonging to “Normal People” and existential crisis. This is emphasized through the instance,
that Marianne and Connell do not feel normal but try to be, whilst both experiences feel
relatable and therefore ordinary for the reader. This shows how we love to distinguish ourselves
from other people in either a superior or inferior way because we never will feel normal in our
skin and we do not understand that other people do not feel normal either. Marianne, for
example, sees herself sometimes as superior and sometimes as inferior. Connell on the other
hand tries to achieve a normality status and that is why he becomes anxious since he never
knows if he is normal enough. But in the end, every single one of them is having ordinary
experiences and nothing is exceptionally special that happens to them. Thus, the idea of the
novel questioning normality and asking the audience whether there is no normality, or everyone
is normal.
Another reason why I find Normal people a great piece of work is because it shows that a story
that deals with teenagers and sex does not need to be sad to be profound and meaningful.
“Normal people” focuses a lot on awkward teenage-like conversations and silly things while still
managing to hide a deeper discussion within the story. It opens new doors for such types of
pieces, which never really have been addressed in a wide range before.

After all this praise I must mention that this book is not for everyone. As already highlighted
throughout the review, this book does not depict a healthy relationship. It is centered around
misunderstandings and awful decisions a flawed human would make.
Furthermore, the writing lacks quotation marks, which makes the dialogue harder to set apart.
No to mention the constant backshift of the timeline after every chapter, which might
intimidate some readers.
Still, I must compliment Sally Rooney for the fact that she indeed executed the above-listed
points, well. This also might be another hint at the messy life of an average human and the way
people change through time.
To be fair at the start the writing confused and frightened me, it was the first Sally Rooney novel
I read and quite frankly at first, I despised it. I didn’t like the characters, I found them annoying
and their decisions dumb. Only after further research I realized that that was the point of the
book and ended up loving it by the end.