A horrible book about a sick relationship between two toxic people, a relationship that never feels real, between two characters that are as cardboard-ish as they come, with zero arc and non-relatable at all, "Normal People" is a failure on all levels, a novel that is boring as they come and that could be summarized in: we like each other but we will make each other and people around us miserable; wash, rise and repeat.
Connell and Marianne are both studying at the same high school, but while Connell, even if from a poor family, is a good student and also good at soccer, Marianne comes from a rich family (for whom Connell's mother works as a cleaning person), nerdy and anti-social (and bullied). The book centers on these two despicable (because they are) characters and drags us for almost three hundred (million) pages through their lame, superficial, boring and stereotypical lives, till... Well, I will not spoil the ending.
Poorly written, with an unclear and unfocused writing style, and zero ideas on where to take the story, Rooney fails on all levels in making the story interesting at all, or of giving us an insight to the lives of these broken people. Instead of understanding them, we will end up hating them, and finding their behavior just plain boring.
Not worth your time.
The best: a couple of surprisingly well written paragraphs (maybe because all the rest is so rubbishy)
The worst: boring, horribly repetitive, despicable and toxic characters
Alternatives: Jonathan Coe, Shiwon Miura, Margaret Atwood, Jaume Cabré... if you want a touching and well written look on humans there are many good options, way better than this book
2/10
(English)
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