IT’S FINALLY SUMMER BREAK!!!
Lord knows that this has been the most interesting year of teaching for me and summer has been anticipated with an especially earnest need. One of those years where you learn a lot from and hope will pave a path of smoother instruction in years to come (lets be honest – I have this hope at the end of every year).
But I’m tougher and more capable of adapting than I thought, and I’ve found life’s just easier and more enjoyable if you embrace the challenging parts.
I have an extensive list of goals for myself this summer, not the least of which is continuing to write my YA novel and developing my writing craft. In August, I’ve been fortunate enough to be selected to attend the Eastern Virginia Writing Project’s summer institute (*nervous butterflies*) and will be honing my skills until then.
Another goal of mine (along with getting out in nature everyday and getting back to my California health habits) is to NOT BUY ANY NEW BOOKS!!
Well, at least until my mom and I go to New Jersey for our annual summer excursion. Then ya girl is going to go absolutely insane and scope out every hot, independent book store within driving range!
But this challenge means that I’ll be reading all of the books already in my possession.
What madness is this??
I see this as an opportunity to finally indulge in all the books I’ve been putting off reading for a while, while also extending some love to the ones I’ve been neglecting for weeks (okay, years).
One such book? Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney. I purchased it through Book of the Month Club and it’s been well received via all the reviews I’ve come across through Goodreads and various social media platforms.
Do I concur? Ehhh, no. No, I do not.
A major, and what I’m sure will be viewed as trivial, flaw in the mechanics of this book is THE ABSOLUTE NEGATION OF QUOTATION MARKS THROUGH OUT THE ENTIRE NOVEL. I mean, really? I feel like Rooney was going for some new wave, hipster cool kid angle with this move. Unfortunately, the blatant attempt at originality fell flat for me. Not being able to differentiate when a character is speaking or thinking through out the narration of the story bugged the crap out of me. It was a jarring realization that I couldn’t give an individual voice to the characters.
Was this the point? I dunno, but I didn’t appreciate this artistic blunder.
Now for the story.
Normal People is a painful tale of star-crossed lovers, dealing with some serious self-loathing and depressing circumstances.
The story is set mostly in Ireland and is told from the third person omniscient perspective. The main characters are Connell, who peaks early in life with popularity, talent and intelligence and Marianne, a woefully self-hating outcast who finds some solace in her adult life when she goes to university and begins to become more independent.
Marianne’s mother and brother are the psychological abusers she is forced to endure until she can make her way to college. Marianne manages to hide her family turmoil from the outside world, thus leading people to believe she’s just a weird girl with quirky behavior and anti-social tendencies. Because of the relentless brow-beating of her brother and the emotional neglect of her mother, Marianne finds herself enthralled with the need for sadomasochistic practices.
Connell’s mother is the cleaning lady of Marianne’s family home. Connell and Marianne encounter one another often, when he comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne’s house and they form a secret sexual relationship from there. Marianne convinces herself that she is unlovable and disgusting, thus explaining Connell’s unwillingness to acknowledge her as anything other than a hookup prospect.
As the years go by, Marianne and Connell’s paths merge and divide. They have their personal peaks and valley’s, but always manage to stay in one another’s orbits, no matter how destructive their encounters prove to be.
Though highly depressing, I thought the ending was terribly realistic and hugely unromantic. If you’re looking for fluffy-feel-good, look else where my friend. This was very Romeo and Juliet without the suicide. Though I did not wholly dislike the storyline, I could not get passed the punctuation debacle. And now I know where I draw the line with creative license.
If you want something to cry over, give this book a whirl. I give it two stars.
Let’s get this summer started babes!! Better books are on the horizon (sorry, Sally).
Happy & healthy reading!
Lexi
