Normal People By Sally Rooney ~ A Book Review
Oh yes, this story is worth your time. And much more.
Normal People is one of those novels that makes you feel really fantastic at first - like the first few shots of Tequila - and then somewhere in the middle of the party, you just get sick of it all and want to throw up all over people’s shoes.
But that’s not the important part.
The important part is that when you finish it, you cannot simply put it down and forget about it.
It stays. In you. It stays.
That probably is one of the most excruciating and worthwhile tasks of a writer ~ to write a story that embeds itself in the soul of the reader. Normal People does that, not sneakily like surreal magic but with an almost uncaring yet upsetting seepage through the walls.
The characters are screwed up. They become your unlikeable children. They frustrate you but as much as you want to; you just can’t bring yourself to slap sense into them. Much like the helpless parent of a teenage addict, you watch a beautiful, “normal” person race into endless chains of turmoil. The whole thing reeks of self-created misery, but is that what it is, really?
The plot is winding and mundane. It is, however, an up-close authentic depiction of modern life lived by young, beautiful, entitled people who, by the looks of it, have everything going for them. These people, they have the grit to ace Trinity but not the grace to navigate life. They have the intellect to grasp the Syrian war but not the self-awareness to know what’s good for them.
The issues are occurring in broad daylight yet shrouded in a mist of private oblivion. The gut wrenching kicks are served alongside coffee and smokes at posh cafeterias. Molestation is meted out for decades in front of multiple witnesses who look the other way. Intelligent, sensible people. Normal people?
But don’t read this book for all that.
Read it because most of all, it bares open the insides of what happens to the psyche of a person when all they receive is abuse and more abuse since the day they were born. This part of the novel is probably one of the most irrefutably strong messages of the story. For that in itself, Normal People is worth your time.
Oh, and heads up ~ Brace yourself for that middle part. You will want to throw up, but you will not be able to put it down.
