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Normal People: A Novel
Elle says, "Normal People tackles millennial concerns with nineteenth-century wit." Book of the Month Club choose this as a recent selection and describes it as: "Two misfits share an on-again, off-again romance in this wise coming-of-age story about friendship and belonging. We all have had that one person who really just 'gets' us and understands us when no one else does. Maybe it works out with them, maybe it doesn't. Regardless, they're that person we keep going back to—for better or worse. Normal People explores that sort of (confusing) relationship. At its core, it's about love—but don't mistake it for a romance."
About the Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE • COMING TO HULU IN 2020 • SALLY ROONEY NAMED TO THE 2019 TIME 100 NEXT LIST
“A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan).
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • The Washington Post • Esquire • Glamour • Good Housekeeping • Kirkus Reviews
“Absolutely engrossing and surprisingly heartbreaking with more depth, subtlety, and insight than any one novel deserves.”—Stephanie Danler
Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.
Praise for Normal People
“[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—The Washington Post
“Arguably the buzziest novel of the season, Sally Rooney’s elegant sophomore effort . . . is a worthy successor to Conversations with Friends. Here, again, she unflinchingly explores class dynamics and young love with wit and nuance.”—The Wall Street Journal
“[Rooney] has been hailed as the first great millennial novelist for her stories of love and late capitalism. . . . [She writes] some of the best dialogue I’ve read.”—The New Yorker
“Fresh and accessible . . . There is so much to say about Rooney’s fiction—in my experience, when people who’ve read her meet they tend to peel off into corners to talk.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Other books in "Quick Lit September 2022"
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