Normal People by Sally Rooney

‘When he talks to Marianne he has a sense of total privacy between them. He could tell her anything about himself, even weird things, and she would never repeat them, he knows that. Being alone with her is like opening a door away from normal life and then closing it behind him. He’s not frightened of her, actually she’s a pretty relaxed person, but he fears being around her, because of the confusing way he finds himself behaving, the things he says that he would never ordinarily say.’

— Normal People by Sally Rooney

Is it merely a romance? Or, is it about coming of age, about class and disparity, about domestic violence and PTSD? I guess the reason this is a novel that has received so much praise is that it doesn’t necessarily need to be classified or identified as any of the above-mentioned themes. It is just a very candid narrative of two people who meant to meet, to get to know each other, and to tangle with all the perceptions and feelings that come along with their peculiar relationship. It is also, I assume, a bold move to present a story that seems to be so ‘abnormal’ in the sense that there are no dramatic moments, no climax, and no so-called traditional storyline to follow. Rather, there are just the conversations that have accumulated over the years of their encountering, but it is a story that may resonate with many readers despite living in very different lifeworlds.

Personally, I was very impressed by the power dynamic between the two and can’t help but wonder if that nuance, that subtlety, yet genuine narrative of how they tended to play with power on each other without even realising it is the veracity of many relationships we may or may not be aware of.