By Amie Kealy
*contains spoilers and heartache*
I didn’t really know much about this book but I heard an audio of the TV programme on a reel on Instagram, and the quote from the reel made me add it to my to buy list straight away. I think because I had no expectations going into it that is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much – I could just immerse myself in the book and the characters and storyline, rather than all the fanfare surrounding it (which is sadly what happened with House of Flame and Shadow).
But I didn’t just enjoy this book, I absolutely devoured it! Set in Carricklea and Dublin, it follows Connell and Marianne finish secondary school and go off to college and gives us a four year snapshot into their complicated relationship and how they navigate their feelings for each other whilst seemingly being unable to articulate quite what they feel. Connell and Marianne come from different social circles; Connell is popular and well-liked in school whereas Marianne is labelled weird and doesn’t really have any friends. So when Connell and Marianne start getting to know each other, Connell’s fear of outside opinion leads to him not treating Marianne very nicely. He’s too scared to let the world know how he feels about her so, despite his feelings, he ignores her publicly. After taking someone else to their school dance instead of Marianne, Connell and Marianne part ways and head off to college.
They both actually end up attending Trinity College – Marianne encouraged Connell to study English there because he reads so much and he got accepted. They happen to run into each other at a party and this is where we see them try to navigate a friendship. Despite everything, they connect with each other on a level incomparable to anyone else and this connection demands to be felt. A role reversal takes place in college, in that Connell is no longer popular and well-liked but Marianne is. His somewhat unsuccessful social venture at college lets him see what life was like through Marianne eyes when they were in school. Marianne has a new boyfriend and Connell ends up dating one of her friends but the connection they share is always teasing us between the lines of the page and the tension-filled and heated glances we’re given made me want to beg for them to just cast their meaningless relationships aside and get it together. You can’t help but want them to be together; despite what’s happening in the plot, they gravitate towards each other, and we’re helplessly caught in the orbit of their attraction.
Their biggest struggle is communicating to each other what they want- when they’re finally together and seemingly happy, Connell can’t afford to stay at college so has to go home over the summer. Hoping that Marianne will let him stay with her, he tells her of his situation. But Marianne misreads his intentions and thinks he doesn’t want to be with her anymore so she lets him go back home to Carricklea whilst she stays in Dublin. At this point I wanted to throw the book out the window.
From this point onwards, Connell gets into a steady relationship with someone else and he seems to come out of himself in a way he couldn’t quite do with Marianne. Whereas without Connell, Marianne sinks into herself, staying in a relationship that degrades her and hanging out with friends who don’t understand her. But Connell and Marianne stay friends through it all: through the anniversary of Marianne’s father’s death, through the death of their school mate, through Connell’s depression. By encountering these tough life events, it helps Marianne and Connell speak to each other in ways they haven’t been able to before.
As the book ends we finally get the gratification we spent the prior 200 pages hoping for: Connell and Marianne in a place of understanding, able to express their feelings for each other and finally being happy together. They even go home for New Years and Connell who has finally shoved off the shackles of social expectation, is affectionate towards Marianne in front of people’ they’ve known since they were in school. However, the book ends with Connell being accepted to a creative writing programme in New York and Marianne telling him to go without her. It ends with Marianne telling Connell she’ll always there waiting.
When I closed the book, I wanted to SCREAM! After everything, and life still got in the way. I felt empty after finishing this book. I think I enjoyed it so much because it was so simple and so normal. I connected to it intimately because it was so everyday and commonplace: two young adults navigating their way through life whilst also navigating life through each other. Connell and Marianne’s relationship is the definition of love sometimes not always being enough; they love each other but they just can’t seem to make it work. I’m going to imagine that even if Connell goes to New York, they’ll somehow find their way back to each other.
If you want a book that will linger, one you can’t stop thinking about even days after you’ve finished it, add Normal People to your to be read pile.
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