Normal People by Sally Rooney

Should I ask for that to be deleted,?

I should have put SPOILER ALERT !

I quite enjoyed it - think it reminded me a bit about a time/place/relationships of my younger days - but found the ending very frustrating. Did anyone else think that?

I read Conversations with Friends about two months ago and I barely remember it. I read a Tana French mystery since and I think she's a better writer. There are a few excellent book on this list.
www.rte.ie/culture/2018/0802/982597-21-books-that-define-21st-century-irish-literature/

Ha ha, was not me who made the comparison to Austen, but a (more) erudite acquaintance who moves in literary circles. Points taken about that, especially yes Austen writes as an acerbic observer with a bit of distance while I definitely had the impression that Rooney’s characters are a bit like her. (Disclaimer: I really did not enjoy Jane Austen at school, realise this is not a popular opinion!)

I’ve just finished it and could not understand how it attracted such glowing reviews. It was like something written by a sixth former.

This

I thought it was very average. Six months after reading it I can barely remember it.

No idea how it got such great reviews but maybe she had a clever publisher/publicist.

I didn't see any resemblance to Austen, really. Austen writes as an amused onlooker, whereas Rooney seems to be navel-gazing; and the quality of prose just isn't there.

Austen definitely didn’t come to my mind. Perhaps helen Schlegel, in the contemptuous dismissal of tedious people who work and earn. But helen has charm and principles, these characters are just vacuous.

I've just finished this and agree with the consensus that it's an entertaining enough novel but nothing I would particularly recommend to friends, let alone nominate for the sodding Booker Prize!

The characters are so self-absorbed as to be utterly unsympathetic by the end and the various issues surrounding abuse are touched upon without ever really being satisfactorily developed at all.

I find the above comparison with Jane Austen frustrating and depressing. This author shares nothing of Austen,s humour, her lightness of touch or her ascerbic, sharp observations of her own society. I could go on but need to stop and find a new novel to read now...

I have also heard her compared to Jane Austen - I guess in that she writes exquisitely on quite a small canvas, reflecting the conventions and social mores of a tiny group of the elite. Her characters don’t seem to have to worry about money, even Connell was elevated above this consideration by his intellect, while his mother (past it at age about 36) slaves away uncomplainingly as a cleaner to support her brilliant son!

Yes, SR's female leads pride themselves on thinking that it's a bit much to be expected to exchange your valuable time for money and wondering why everyone doesn't agree, and I think Frances in CWF has an extended pose about not ever wanting to earn more than some arbitrary sum arrived at by dividing the planet's financial resources by the number of inhabitants -- $16000 or something? And I think we're supposed to think that her lack of interest in becoming a literary agent is cool, whereas her friend Philip, who's an intern at the same agency, is regarded as mildly pathetic (even by their boss) because he is ambitious.

Again, she's encompassing the worldview of a certain type of millennial, but the air of edgy self-congratulation occasionally grates.

I enjoyed it, it was an easy read, but it hasn’t really stayed with me, and I also found this with Conversations With Friends. The characters in both seemed interchangeable, especially the female protagonists. I think she writes very insightfully about a certain type (intellectual, self absorbed millennials) and her analysis of unconscious and often destructive motivations is pretty impressive. But I found the characters (with exception of Connell maybe) infuriating and unlikeable - in both books there is a section where a character reflects on the pointlessness of having a job (erm, to earn money maybe..?) which I found quite telling!

Oh, it's worth a read, @mumsie -- and there are some very good things about it. But if you don't care for unplotty, dialogue-heavy novels detailing the on and off relationship of two deeply self-absorbed students, it may not be for you.

I'm so pleased to read this thread so I can take Normal People out of contention for my holiday reading.
Currently have a pile of 16 "potential" books to whittle down...

I’m another who struggled to understand all the hype about this book. I felt compelled to keep reading in case anything happened.
It didn’t.

This is so absolutely hilarious because I have just been at a vair, vair, worthy/intellectual literary fest with A LOT of Irish writers/editors/publishers and it is like the LAW that you have to have her as your favourite read, main inspiration, name on your lips etc.

Were you in Bantry, @Blitheringheights? I can assure you that at least two of those present were being, if not actually critical, then at least less than whole-heartedly admiring of SR.

It’s a bit like when White Teeth came out. You had to rave about Zadie Smith. Had to. I thought it was rubbish, so bad I have never been able to bring myself to pick up any of her other work. So she may have improved. I hope so.

This is so absolutely hilarious because I have just been at a vair, vair, worthy/intellectual literary fest with A LOT of Irish writers/editors/publishers and it is like the LAW that you have to have her as your favourite read, main inspiration, name on your lips etc. I think there is a surprising amount of herd behaviour and emperors new clothes in the literati sometimes. If you said ‘actually if you ask all the well-read mumsnetters, they think she’s fine but not allllll that,’ I think the same people would be like

I have just bought the debut novel. I am going to give it a shot.

Normal People reminds me of American Psycho... difficult to get into . some unpleasant aspects...would you recommend it to others ? Not sure .

I liked this one but didn't get half way through Conversations with Friends. The characters reminded me of me and my life growing up, the different personas you have in different places, coming from an average sort of place to somewhere fancy and having to find your way.

I got about 1/3 of the way through and gave up. I found the characters boring - I didn't like or dislike them, I simply didn't care what happened to them. The oh-so-cool punctuation (or lack thereof) was irritating. Nothing of note seemed to be happening in the plot. I couldn't see the point of the book at all.

Possibly I am not the author's target audience. However, truly well-written books should have an appeal that transcends demographics - for this reason, I'm surprised this book has gained so many plaudits and awards, in a way I wouldn't have been had the novel been merely a commercial success.

“Hung up on their cool credentials” yes that’s what I was trying and failing to express.
I suspect a lot of older readers are picking up these books in hopes of understanding the younger generation, thinking “oh god” and putting them down again.