#137 Not-a-Book-Review: Normal People

“Life is the thing you bring with you inside your own head.”

Oct 15, 2023

For a few seconds they just stood there in stillness, his arms around her, his breath on her ear. Most people go through their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close with anyone.
Sally Rooney, Normal People

Normal People is not a love story.

It’s a story about love and its messiness. And how sometimes, love falls short.

Normal People' stars talk romance, intimacy, and this irresistible relationship | Mashable

Dearest,

I read Normal People this week for my local book club.

In case you haven’t read it yet, the book is about Marianne and Connell who go to the same secondary school. While Connell is popular, Marianne is considered odd and awkward.

But when they start talking to each other, it’s as though the rusty wheels of their lives are set in motion.

Read my review of Girl in White Cotton

Normal People feels painfully real as it etches for us the story of two teenagers on their way to adulthood, faltering and failing but never letting go of each other’s sight. How healthy is this tether, that is for you to decide.

This book is for you…

…if you are someone who enjoys books that look at human beings as human beings - flawed, unable to communicate what truly matters, looking for a cheat sheet to life in other people who are equally flawed.

It is for you if you appreciate writers who present their characters as products of society, trying to break free from its performatives while simultaneously making most important decisions based on the role ordained by it.

A character I loved: Joanna, away from all drama!

Normal People's Eliot Salt on why everyone needs a friend like Joanna | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard

Everyone should have a friend like Joanna. She is an ocean of calm for Marianne, never demanding her presence.

Joanna is a compassionate listener who bears witness to Marianne's life and choices without passing judgment.

What sets her apart is how she embodies the delicate balance of being both right and kind.

Some verses in memory of Louise Glück who we lost on Friday:

#1 The Burning Heart

“No sadness is greater than in misery to rehearse memories of joy.…”

Ask her if she regrets anything.

I was
promised to another—
I lived with someone.
You forget these things when you’re touched.

Ask her how he touched her.

His gaze touched me
before his hands touched me.

Ask her how he touched her.

I didn’t ask for anything;
everything was given.

Ask her what she remembers.

We were hauled into the underworld.

I thought
we were not responsible
any more than we were responsible
for being alive. I was
a young girl, rarely subject to censure:
then a pariah. Did I change that much

from one day to the next?
If I didn’t change, wasn’t my action
in the character of that young girl?

Ask her what she remembers.

I noticed nothing. I noticed
I was trembling.

Ask her if the fire hurts.

I remember
we were together.
And gradually I understood
that though neither of us ever moved
we were not together but profoundly separate.

Ask her if the fire hurts.

You expect to live forever with your husband
in fire more durable than the world.
I suppose this wish was granted,
where we are now being both
fire and eternity.

Do you regret your life?

Even before I was touched, I belonged to you;
you had only to look at me.

#2 From The Triumph of Achilles

Why love what you will lose?
There is nothing else to love.

#3 From Faithful and Virtuous Night

I think here I will leave you. It has come to seem
there is no perfect ending.
Indeed, there are infinite endings.
Or perhaps, once one begins,
there are only endings.