NORMAL PEOPLE BY SALLY ROONEY. WE CAN'T RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH.

This week I smashed through this little ripper and I couldn’t wait to divulge my thoughts on it with you. It’s a short read that you can plough through with ease, also assisted by the manner in which Sally is able to capture your attention from the first chapter.

If I could pick any word to describe the feeling that I felt whilst I was reading this, it would be intrigue. I was so curious to understand where the facets of each character arose from. I found it a real unravelling of how experiences from our youth and teen years can affect pivotal decision making moments in our future, that ultimately decide your life story and the person you shape up to become.

The book takes place over four years, from the time the two main characters met in high school and how their relationship evolves as well as their lives, as they go through their university years in a new context. Being set primarily whilst the characters were in university was appealing to me as a reader, as I found those to be my most formative years (breaking away from a familiar city, tasting unadulterated independence, being exposed to newfound opinions and snippets of wisdom from lecturers and fellow students all from various walks of life and background reference points) and was keen to note how these characters also danced with these correlating lines to those in my own memory bank.

I also found the concept of ‘power’ compelling to explore. In all honesty, I had never really thought of people having power over others, particularly those noted as being weaker. I had obviously read about being a subordinate (fifty shades of grey… guilty) in term of kinky explorations, but not being a subordinate in the relationship. This sub-topic was interesting to toss around when comparing it to people wearing the pants in the relationship and if that is a result of childhood experiences or simply more dominant personality types.

Throughout the story I was so keen to see how their relationship would continue to unfold and really just wanted to yell at the two of them to COMMUNICATE BETTER! All of the moments, of misinterpretations and misunderstandings really drove me crazy. I just wanted to fill in the lines for the two and help a brother and sister out.

All in all, the book is so eloquently compiled and a little gem that I would easily recommend to anyone (although probably not your boyfriend’s mum for Christmas, which is something a close friend of mine did, as there are quite a few sexual moments…. it was set in college after all). Keen to hear what you made of it.