At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal. 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 in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, 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. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.
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Character
Contemporary, earnest, grave and classical in form.
- contemporarynostalgic
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- classical in formformally daring
- character-ledplot-driven
Who loves it, who doesn't
9 profiled raters. Loved most by The Empaths.
Where do you stand?
Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.
“Does the smallness hold it back?”
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“Is this Sally Rooney's best work?”
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“Is Normal People too earnest?”
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Ask the title
A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
- june_bugThe Comfort Seeker★★★★★
I read it in one sitting and then lay on the floor. Rooney writes miscommunication like a horror writer writes a basement.
About the book
- Author
- Sally Rooney
- First published
- 2018
- Pages
- 304
- Publisher
- Knopf Canada, W.A.B. - Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, Random House Large Print
- Editions
- 27
- Language
- Polish, German, English, baq
- ISBN
- 9788417339272
Where to read
Libraries first: a card gets you most books for nothing. Each opens that service’s page for this title.
On Open Library, 134 have read it and 1,734 want to.
“Marianne answers the door when Connell rings the bell.”
Sally Rooney is an Irish author and screenwriter. Rooney was born in Castlebar, County Mayo, where she also grew up and lives today, after studying in Dublin and a stint in New York City. She studied English at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where she was elected a scholar in 2011. She started (but did not complete) a master's degree in politics there, completing a degree in American literature instead, and graduated with an MA in 2013. While attending TCD, Rooney was a university debater and eventually became the top debater at the European Universities Debating Championships in 2013, later writing of the experience. Before becoming a writer, she worked for a restaurant in an administrative
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Curator Co. Other media included when they land close.
Klara and the Sun 201977% alikeBoth contemporary, earnest, grave.
Both earnest, contemporary, character-led.
Never Let Me Go 200569% alikeBoth earnest, grave, contemporary.
The Secret History 199261% alikeBoth earnest, grave; this one is more nostalgic.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous 201958% alikeBoth earnest, grave, contemporary; this one is more formally daring.
A Little Life 200857% alikeBoth contemporary, earnest, grave; this one is more demanding.
The Left Hand of Darkness 196957% alikeBoth earnest, contemporary, grave; this one is more richly built.
Pachinko 201741% alikeBoth earnest, grave, classical in form; this one is more epic.
Normal People 202086% alikeSeries · Both contemporary, earnest, grave.
Let the Right One In 200883% alikeFilm · Both earnest, contemporary, grave.
