Normal People- Sally Rooney

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Normal People, Sally Rooney's brainchild is nothing short of an absolute wonder to be read. One of my favorite books that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster of love, friendship, and heartbreak, Rooney won me over with her ability to showcase the reality of the complex relationships that people unknowingly form. 

Marianne is an awkward teenager with an eccentric yet distant personality who wants to accept the reality of her unfortunate world that is composed of an ignorant and unfeeling family and hardly a  handful of friends. Connell is the exact definition of what one might describe as the high school sweetheart. Famous, friendly, and extremely handsome, he tends to suppress his own feelings and desires only to be someone the world adores and loves. Rooney somehow transcribes certain extreme qualities of love and loneliness along with a common urge to suppress one's true desires which in my opinion, might actually be one of the biggest factors that bring the two characters together. Marianne and Connell ignore each other in school because they simply belong on two different ends of the same spectrum, however, as one day Connell surprisingly shows up at Marianne's doorstep, the two cannot possibly seem to ignore the connection they feel or even the indelible impact that they might begin to have on each other's lives. 

After finishing school, the two meet again at Trinity College, Dublin where conversations and several moments of absolute honesty actually make them realize that the connection they share never ceased to exist whereas it only grew stronger with each passing moment of their separation. Throughout the duration of their college days, Marianne and Connell seemed to be intertwined no matter how hard they try to remain apart from each other. Their lives seem to circle back to each other simply because of the complexity and gravity of the relationship and the intimacy they share. A relationship that is so intimate that it allows them to be their best selves even at their lowest while being brutally honest about their feelings. 

But, as life begins to get real Marianne and Connell are forced to confront the choices they would make for both their own selves and also for each other. Normal People is a complex retelling of probably any relationship that stems from a familiar distance to friendship and finally to a bond of such extreme love and adoration that two people are forever connected to each other. And as much as my last sentence might make you think of it as a cliche love story, it surely is not one. Rooney provides you with a beacon of hope only to shatter your heart and then stitches it again only for you to accept that in the end, the complexities of life and love are meant to break hearts. 

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