Normal People- where’s the ending?!

[TheIckabog]

Spoilers

I’m a bit slow on this so sorry if this has been done before but I’ve just finished reading ‘Normal People’. I’d had it for ages but never got round to it, but off the back of the popularity of the BBC 3 adaption I’d thought I’d give it a go....

What a massive crashing disappointment. Where’s the ending? Did Sally Rooney just get bored and think, yup that’ll do. I turned the last page and was left looking for at least another chapter to give this book some sort of satisfactory conclusion.

I had hoped this would end either in utter heartbreak (Connel going off to New York and never coming back) or some soaring heart rending reunion where they realized they were perfect for each other and stayed together.

V disappointed. Anyone else?

I thought the first chapter was boring so never read further
I watched the tv series and thought that was pretty cr*p too.
There is a good thread on the tv series in Telly Addicts topic section on Mumsnet.

I'm so glad you posted this. I read it on my kindle one night and thought there must have been a problem when they uploaded it. My friend had a paperback copy and I called her the next morning (she hadn't read it yet) and found it was exactly the same.

It was a real WTF moment!

It reminded me of a parent telling their child a story and when the parent gets bored or hears the sound of a bottle being opened downstairs they just say, "And that's the end of the story, leaving the child looking confused.

Ha. I didn't mind the openness of the ending because there was some personal growth for each of them there. Admittedly that is more obvious in the TV series than the book which has coloured my opinion somewhat due to my Paul Mescal obsession. Just don't read Conversations with Friends. Four bloody awful people is what that should be called.

This was the low point of my reading year so far this year.
I only kept going because it was so short I was sure something was going to happen soon, because I was nearly finished. Literally nothing happens.
A classic example of a book that has been overhyped to the point that everyone thinks it is going to be amazing, so everyone jumps on the amazing bandwagon, when it really isn't.

The lack of punctuation didn't help either

I’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought it had potential but it really didn’t evolve into much

I can see that her prose and preoccupations aren’t for everyone, but the ending, while open, is decisive enough, surely? Connell will go to NY, Marianne will stay in Dublin, they’ve grown up and found their feet in the world, and whether or not they ever get back together romantically, they’ve both changed the other’s life decisively for the better.

I think that's the point of it, that she's leaving it open so it could go either way. I loved the book, although I agree the ending needed more closure.