Book review : Normal People by Sally Rooney

Love is normal. So are the ones not understanding it.

We all fall in love. Most of us come out of it. Some of us remain in it. Few live it. All of which is normal. This is what normal people do.

Sally Rooney’s latest novel traces the story of Marianne and Connell, two ordinary people with ordinary feelings. Together they are inseparable, yet they seem to be missing each other’s emotions. While they’re raw in expression, they’re mature in accepting what is. Their relationship is love or friendship and which one is more valuable?

The book tracks their journey every few days, or four months, or a few weeks again. Maybe, as a reminder that time is merely an act of documentation, to thread them together.

We don’t cross years without them coming back to each other. Why would we? Why should we?

The book is written in a subtle manner, one that is non-judgemental of what love means to us. There are points when you wish Marianne gets over her self loathe and acknowledge that she matters. “She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person.”

From being teenagers to young adults, both of them go through psycho-social changes, asking questions that…