1 Synopsis 2 Reception 3 Awards 4 Adaptation 5 Sally Rooney 5a Other Books 6 References
The novel follows the complex friendship and relationship between two teenagers, Connell and Marianne, who both attend the same secondary school in County Sligo, Ireland, and, later, Trinity College Dublin (TCD). It is set during the post-2008 Irish economic downturn, from 2011 through 2015.[5] Connell is a popular, handsome, and highly intelligent secondary school student who begins a relationship with the unpopular, intimidating, equally intelligent Marianne, whose mother employs Connell's mother as a cleaner. Connell keeps the affair a secret from school friends out of shame, but ends up attending Trinity with Marianne after the summer and reconciling. Well-off Marianne blossoms at university, becoming pretty and popular, while Connell struggles for the first time in his life to fit in properly with his peers. The pair weave in and out of each other's lives across their university years, developing an intense bond that brings to light the traumas and insecurities that make them both who they are.
Normal People received wide critical acclaim.[6] It was longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize.[7] It was voted as the 2018 Waterstones' Book of the Year[8] and won "Best Novel" at the 2018 Costa Book Awards.[9] In 2019, the novel was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.[10] In the same year, it was ranked 25th on The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.[11]
Irish Independent editor Fionnán Sheahan described the book as a polemic, noting that Rooney has described herself as a Marxist and that the book features discussions about The Communist Manifesto document and Doris Lessing's feminist novel The Golden Notebook.[12]
Entertainment Weekly writers ranked the book as the 10th best of the decade, with Seija Rankin writing, "Both of Sally Rooney’s novels capture the millennial ethos with raw honesty and impeccable insight. But what she broke ground with in Conversations With Friends, she perfected in Normal People."[13]
Award Year Result Costa Book Awards for Best Novel 2018 Won[9] British Book Award for Book of the Year 2019 Won[2] Man Booker Prize 2018 Longlisted[7] Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 Longlisted[10]