Normal People hits differently than other romance stories. For me, this doesn’t have much to do with the love connection itself, but rather all of the social variables that surround it, which hit rather close to home. For the most part, I’m referring to the feeling of being a misunderstood high school student. Which is not far gone from my memory. Ditto the anxieties pertaining to college applications. These themes prevailed substantially in the first quarter or so of the book, and with them my personal experiences. But it is truly the colorful relationship of Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron that distracted me from delving too deeply into memory lane.
I knew it was going to be quirky and I knew I was going to have fun reading Normal People. I could tell from the first chapter. Its observations of human emotion, communication, and sexuality were so pungent and fresh from the very start.
I read this over the course of four days, spellbound all the way through.
Most of the reading took place during a vacation to Florida, and so I knew I was going to need to section off time to actually be a human being and interact with relatives. But I tell you what— one of my favorite aspects of this vacation was being able to power through this book. Coming back to Normal People in between family lunches and goings out was like reuniting with candy. It was the shortest 273 pages I’ve ever held in my hands. I don’t think I’ve ever said that about anything.
Those who know me well may find this high level of interest in the source material amusing, as I am usually fanning over something drastically different and darker, typically authored by Stephen King, or someone of his ilk.
True, it is not what I typically go for. But rest assured, there is nothing amusing about how addicting Normal People is. For those who know of this book—or the Hulu show, of which I just binged—I suppose I am slow on the take. I believe the novel came out in 2018; the show is probably a year old.
But wow. Just wow. Please find this book and read it.
