WOW! I wish this book existed when I was seventeen!

I’d heard a lot of hype about Rooney’s first book, Conversations With Friends (which I’m yet to read), so I bought this on a whim, and boy did it deliver.

Spanning five years of friendship, Rooney tells the love story of two teenagers as they attempt to navigate the world around them – it’s a story of identity, love, friendship and the challenges of becoming oneself. 

Excerpt from the back of the book:

Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from a kitchen conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people – funny, magnetic, complex – who try to stay apart but find they can’t. It shows us how difficult it is to change who we are. And with heartbreaking tenderness, it reveals how we learn about sex and power, the desire to hurt and be hurt, and the desire to love and be loved. 

Based on some of the reviews of this book, I would say the audience is pretty polarised as to whether the author succeeds in creating dynamic, vibrant characters and a compelling, emotionally-charged narrative, or if it’s just another cliched coming-of-age story. 

Personally, I was hooked from the first page!

I thought Rooney’s characterisations were so powerful it felt as though I was watching a movie (apparently it’s set to be adapted for television by BBC Three in the UK). 

But what’s most moving about this novel is the dazzling portrayal of the ways in which we try – and too often fail – to understand each other, how we long to be different yet strive to fit in, and how we crave acceptance and love especially when we are still discovering who we are yet to become. 

I believe Rooney has succeeded in creating a beautiful, yet painfully accurate, story about finding one’s place in the world.