Sally Rooney’s Normal People BBC

[HDDD]

This book has been on my to read list for a while. I took a lazy punt and decided to watch the 12 part BBC adaptation instead. Now I’m overjoyed I never read it. It fascinated me and irked me in equal measure. I don’t want to give spoilers but the thing that grated the most was the ‘pretty’ thing. I don’t know how much was made of this in the book but Marianne said of herself that she wasn’t pretty at school and blossomed in college. Others also said it of her. She didn’t change the structure of her face! I think I have an irrational dislike of the word pretty anyway, but I’d be interested in other views on this – the pretty thing, and whether this book is indeed a modern feminist classic or mainly hogwash.

Connell is an unbelievable character full stop really. I certainly never came across any boys in sixth form who were really clever and sensitive and into literature, but also handsome and sporty and in the popular gang, oh and had risen to this from a difficult background as child of a teenage single mum...it’s all a bit much.

Connell is really Dylan McKay from 90210.

@Goosefoot,
Literary fiction is just another genre these days, and often neither the best crafted nor the most compelling genre, IMO

That's so interesting, I never thought of it like that before. I think you're spot on.

Having Connell read The Golden Notebook made me laugh my head off! That was definitely too much. I couldn't finish it