Normal People by Sally Rooney

[HappydaysArehere]

Not that far into above and can’t make my mind up as to whether it is going to be a crashing bore or a book I will enjoy.....in the end. Anyone reading it? Would appreciate any input.

[CountFosco]

Long lingering shots of Trinity College?

That adaption of W&P was excellent but really whizzed through the story. I do miss 1980s series that went on for months.

[cookingmywaythroughlockdown]

I read it tonight. Really enjoyed it tbh though I agree it has some very frustrating loose ends and the ending is rubbish. But the portrayal of intimacy - and how hard that is to accept if you haven’t had it modelled for you is very good. Neither protagonist has any idea how to have a functioning relationship.

[Buxbaum]

How the hell are they getting twelve half-hour episodes out of it for the tv adaptation?

Seriously? I've just finished re-watching the 2016 BBC adaptation of War and Peace and that's only 6h20!! (5x1hr eps and 1x1h20 finale)

[Snugglepiggy]

I found Conversations with friends very underwhelming. Really don't think I would want to read another SR book on the strenth -or weakness -of that.

[EstebanTheMagnificent]

How the hell are they getting twelve half-hour episodes out of it for the tv adaptation?

[Mucklowe]

Comparisons to Salinger? Please... Salinger has more talent in his left knacker than Rooney. Whoever compared them should be embarrassed.

[Vargas]

I loved it so much, totally unexpectedly. Can't wait to see it on TV. I think she is an amazing writer, but I am fairly surprised at how much publicity the novel received.

[SwedishEdith]

Just finished this. I found it an easy read - neither hated nor loved it. But, I found the scene where they met each other for first time at university (3 months after last seeing each other) really not credible. That whole acting "Oh, wow, it's you. Here's my new boyfriend". At that age, relationships are intense. It just seemed too breezy (unless I missed that she was overcompensating for finding it difficult?).

I've already seen the trailer now but I picture Connell as Jamie Dornan and Jamie as Lawrence Fox - ha ha.

[CountFosco]

It's not for nothing someone has dubbed SR the 'Salinger of the Snapchat generation.'

I hated Catcher in the Rye so that is not a compliment! I thought it was beautifully written but very much a young person's book. The comparison with The Secret History is interesting but there was a lot more plot in Donna Tartt's novel. Maybe I was the right age for The Secret History though. DH is from an Irish family (definitely in that world, FIL went to a famous boarding school and is related to a classic Irish writer) and I'm Scottish and the small country with small elite who all know each other is not exclusive to Ireland, that was very familiar to me as well.

Don't mind finding the characters annoying but if I was Connell's mother I'd have been warning him off the very damaged Marianne. I also found the breakup over not asking to stay in the flat ridiculous, also that Marianne went from being the daughter of a small town solicitor to being from this rich family who owned a second home in Italy felt inconsistent (where was this Italian second home when she was having a shit time at school?).

[Helmetbymidnight]

loved them both! found them charming- felt like i was peering into peoples heads.

[Vitaceae]

Yep. Hated it, and Conversations with Friends too. Shallow, self absorbed characters. Went straight into the charity shop donations bag.

[MoltoAgitato]

Bouncing this rather than starting a new thread. Bought this in anticipation of the TV show, for which the trailers look good. But the book is crap! I’ve met Lego minifigs with greater emotional depth and cognitive capabilities than Connell, and the only one I remotely find interesting is Peggy. The present tense writing is naff and makes the whole thing read like mediocre fan fic. I am fully prepared to admit that the effect it elicited in me (complete boredom and thinking that these people are dull AF, self absorbed navel gazers completely ignorant as to the real world) is the intended one, but also I am aware that the literati are amongst some of the most unoriginal and herd-like creatures out there, so I take their opinion with a pinch of salt.

[HappydaysArehere]

When I finished it I felt I had wasted my time. What a load of tosh was my feeling and thought “charity shop” which wasn’t really fair on the charity shop.

[Jesuisclaude]

I actually liked it after thinking I’d not, and think she’s a very good writer, which is rarer than one would think of twenty somethings.

The pp above worrying about there just being negative comments on it - I really wouldn’t worry as this is not a writer in danger of suffering from lack of promotion or negative press! Quite the opposite, she’s had stonking good press.

The hype is overhyped though, not because she’s not very good, but because it’s almost too much too soon, I hate this wealth of expectations being slapped on a young writer, and wish it was spread round a bit. She really hit the jackpot in becoming the default ‘publishing’s hot new young voice’ and I wonder how she feels about that. Amazingly lucky in so many ways, but quite crazy.

I LOVE her story ‘Mr Salary’, available online.

[theneverendinglaundry]

I didn't like it either. And I read in the bbc website they've turned it into a tv series!

[Huntlybyelection]

I really disliked it. And the characters. I dislike books that intend to make me feel uncomfortable and unsettled. I can appreciate the intention but it's firmly in the same place as Perfume by Peter ????

That place is in the (recycling) bin. I can't bring myself to donate these sorts of books so as not to infect others with that same flesh crawlingly uncomfortable feeling they invoke.

[slipperyeel]

I loved it too! I love character driven novels if they’re well written, don’t need anything to happen at all.

[beanaseireann]

I'm Irish and am struggling with this. 3 chapters in and its soooo boring.
Im thinking if giving up. Life's too short to read a boring, tediuos book.

[Neolara]

I liked it. Nothing happened but as a dissection of how a relationship changes over time, I thought it was interesting.

[Karkasaurus]

Oh I totally disagree with the consensus. I loved it.

[Greenglassteacup]

Won’t bother with any more after these two though

[Greenglassteacup]

Might have been

[CIareIsland]

I find her characters extremely irritating and frustrating

Yes I did to - but wondered if that was the objective?

[Greenglassteacup]

I find her characters extremely irritating and frustrating

[shins]

I can't bear her writing. I'm the right background but the wrong age maybe. I find her unpleasantly cold, unempathic and dull. Really puzzled by the hype.