Read 2: September 6th, 2023
Revisiting Normal People was such a trip. While I do remember loving and deeply relating to the book the first time I read it this reread was on another level. I have never felt so seen, so understood, so reflected in a book. Reading Normal People, for me, felt like walking in the skin of Connell and Marianne. It was frequently frustrating and cringe inducing but it was an exercise in empathy unlike any other book I've ever read.

There's such an intimacy and specificity to Sally Rooney's writing here. Her characters display such a humanity you can't help but flinch, can't help but empathize. From their adolescent fumblings to their extended despair as they trudged through their early twenties, every moment was so vividly painted for the reader. Rooney's work is so human I can't imagine Normal People not speaking to, even if for a moment, any reader.

I will say Normal People isn't absolutely perfect. I still find how Rooney addresses BDSM and kink lacking. To be clear I don't think the book needed to be didactic and have rote conversations about consent and such. But the absence of any look to any sort of power exchange that wasn't coercive or violent made that facet of the book feel lacking.

But even with its flaws I can't give this book any less than a full five stars. Any work that lives in my skin the way Normal People does deserves nothing less.

Read 1: July 30th, 2022
4.5 stars