- Normal People by Sally Rooney
I'd say this was the low point of my reading year so far.
I really don't get why it has had so much attention, been nominated for so many awards and now the BBC has adapted it into a major drama series. I just don't get it.
If it had been any longer it would have been relegated to the Could-Not-Finish pile, but I pressed on due to its great reviews, and I managed to convince myself I was missing the point, and it would all fall into place. It didn't.
The dialogue is written with no punctuation which irritated me a lot. Why do authors do this? Do they think they are being clever? Interesting? I jut find it annoying, and it annoyed me so much in this book, that I will steer clear of any other novel that does it for the foreseeable future.
Poor punctution aside, it reads like an averagely written YA novel, full of he's more popular than her, the unpopular girl gets the popular guy, then he dumps her, she's doesn't care because she is SO individual, but she does care really, friendship drama, sex, how tough life is for rich uni students. Honestly it reads like a teenager's Snapchat. Or a 1980s Bratpack movie with added mobile phones and angsty Skype calls but without the benefit of a good soundtrack.
Occasionally, just occasionally, there were glimpses of something that might have made a decent plot, such as Marianne's abusive family background or Connell's emerging writing career, but the author decides to focus on making coffee in intricate detail instead.
I realise I may be in a minority, but occasionally you need to read a stinker to fully appreciate a good book.