Intimate, Raw, and Engrossing: Reviewing Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People,’ and the BBC’s TV Adaption

*Disclaimer: this post contains a spoiler in the penultimate paragraph.

Like many people in the UK at the moment, I have been reading, watching, and thoroughly loving Normal People.

Rooney’s unique coming of age tale is set in Carricklea and centres on the characters Marianne and Connell. Marianne is from an affluent yet fractured family. Treated like an outsider at school, she is frequently the butt of the popular teenagers’ jokes. Connell - who attends the same secondary school as Marianne - is attractive, athletic, well-liked, yet reserved. Connell’s mother is employed by Marianne’s mother as a cleaner, and this class disparity frames the rather uncomfortable beginnings of Connell and Marianne’s interactions. The two protagonists later engage in a sexual relationship that they keep secret from their school peers, largely because Connell fears that being associated with Marianne, a recalcitrant loner, might damage his reputation. When both Connell and Marianne move to Dublin to attend Trinity College, there is somewhat of a role reversal. Connell struggles to fit in with his privileged, superficial peers whilst Marianne’s wealthy background means she is at ease in Trinity’s elitist social circles. Their relationship has all the complexity of modern relationships: they grow apart, date other people, their lives take different paths, yet they continue to be drawn back together. Rooney’s novel resonates with so many readers because it tackles universal themes like co-dependence, belonging, and the formative impact other people have on our own lives. Rooney’s characters feel authentic because they have virtues, conceits, self-delusions, and unspoken insecurities.

Rooney’s writing style is simply beautiful. As in all of her work, she does not use speech marks meaning that the characters’ dialogue is not sealed off from the rest of the narrative. This works well, for dialogue makes up much of the book’s content. Rooney shifts smoothly and unobtrusively between flashbacks and the present moment. This seamless weaving between past and present helps the reader gain an understanding of how each character’s history affects the way they think, and also how they interact with other characters. The well thought out structure of Normal People is reminiscent of free indirect discourse. The narrative oscillates between the experiences of Marianne and Connell meaning the reader assumes a vantage point where they can see both characters’ perspectives. This can make Marianne and Connell’s miscommunications frustrating to read, although this clever writing style means that the reader has access to the characters’ interiority as well as their interactions with others. Overall, Rooney’s characters are complex, believable, and contextualised.

I must admit that I found some parts of the book unpleasant to read. Some of Marianne’s self-deprecating comments made me squirm, along with her increasingly twisted sexual desires. However, in part, this is what makes the book so effective. Although you may feel uncomfortable at times as a reader, there is nothing in the book that is superfluous or lacking context. Marianne’s opinion of herself and her expectations of relationships are evidently influenced by her upbringing; her father was violent when he was alive, her brother is verbally and physically abusive, and her mother does nothing to intervene. Therefore, Marianne’s insecurities are entirely appropriate. Connell and Marianne are flawed and not wholly likeable characters, but this is precisely what makes them plausible.

Part of Rooney’s talent stems from her ability to engage readers by writing about ‘mundane’ characters who live ‘ordinary’ lives. Throughout much of the book, the protagonists agonise over what it means to be normal and whether they conform to the norm. Marianne sometimes sees herself as superior to the average person which is a source of pride for her. However, at times she feels distinctly alienated from the idea of normality and sees herself as intrinsically damaged and unlovable. Likewise, Connell at various points is anxious to conform. In spite of their fears, Connell and Marianne emerge as no more or less normal than the typical person. As such, Rooney’s novel encourages the reader to be accepting of their own unique insecurities, desires, and fears.

The BBC’s adaptation Normal People is undoubtedly popular, as evidenced by the fact that an Instagram account specifically dedicated to Connell’s chain has amassed 182,000 followers, Gucci has recently released Connell style shorts priced at £494, and Paul Mescal has achieved the status of a national heartthrob. I often find it rare that adaptations ‘live up’ to the book they take inspiration from. However, the BBC’s adaptation of Normal People absolutely does justice to Rooney’s excellent work. The cinematography is beautiful. Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal have wonderful on-screen chemistry and create characters who are simultaneously attractive yet flawed. Their acting is convincing and engaging. They are both incredibly talented actors who no doubt have bright futures ahead of them in the industry. The adaptation preserves a lot of the book’s dialogue and follows the plot very closely. It made me very happy that the scenes in the adaptation were very similar to how I had imagined them in my head. As a side-note, I had no idea that Daisy Edgar Jones wasn’t actually Irish until I heard her talking in some interviews, that’s how convincing her accent is throughout the series!

The sex scenes have gained the BBC show a lot of attention. The Sun (a quality information source, I know) reported that there are forty-one minutes of sex scenes across the 12-episode long season (who was responsible for counting this?! Did someone sit watching the show with a stopwatch in hand? I have questions…). Indeed, Katy Perry jokingly tweeted that the show should be renamed ‘much more sex than normal people!’ That being said, the sex scenes are always relevant and appropriate. It was refreshing to see sex scenes that are relatively realistic, and include teenage awkwardness, consent, and show protection being used. I also appreciated the gender-neutral stance towards nudity they adopted when filming. Male and female bodies are equally exposed; there’s no carefully draped bedding that just so happens to be covering the woman’s nipples that you usually see in films and TV shows.

The show has rightfully attracted praised for its frank depiction of male mental health. Connell suffers from depression after his friend Rob commits suicide, and I agree that the show helps to break down the stigma surrounding men’s mental health by showing a male lead crying, grieve, suffering from panic attacks, and candidly discussing his feelings with mental health professionals.

I would rate Rooney’s book and the BBC adaptation 4.5/5 stars.

If you enjoyed Normal People, you may be interested in the interviews below. The first link is a very interesting, detailed, and engaging discussion between Sally Rooney and Kishani Widyaratna which includes a brief Q&A with the audience at the end. In the second, Rooney talks about her Marxist beliefs, how this affects her writing, and how the novel can be seen as a commodity.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jH_0rg46Es]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1S5bOdJq3U]