NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney

If I read this novel at the age the two main characters are - late teens/very early twenties, I would have hated it, I wouldn't have understood it, I would have been bored, I would have found very little to relate to. (I was very naive at that time in my life). But now that I have read it at the other end of life - middle age and all that, with plenty of life experience behind me - I got a huge amount out of this, almost to the point that I may think it is wasted on the young.

It is about love - young love which has such an intensity to it, often overpowering in its need to be fulfilled, expressed and simply let out. Danny and Marianne are the young couple, growing up in a small town in Ireland, at school together, yet in completely different social circles. She comes from money, academically gifted, not a popular at school, does not fit in with any peer group. Danny is the opposite - no money, his solo mother is Marianne's family's housekeeper, in the top sports teams and groups, and also academically very gifted. These two find each other, they are soul mates, kindred spirits, but too young and immature to fully realise it, emotional damage ensuing.

They end up at Trinity College in Dublin together - he on a scholarship, she because she can. Their paths cross, separate, recross during their time as students at college and back in their home town during holidays. All you want is for them to get their acts together, get those emotional hurdles out of the way, and be a couple - they are so obviously perfect for each other, but just can't seem to do it. Their paths diverge, Marianne not going through a good time, and Danny for a short time having a really good time. But then they meet up again - will it last?

This was frustrating, I can tell you, as an older person looking in on a young love! But all so incredibly normal - is this the secret behind the title? This novel brings back memories of intense teenage/young adult love/lust/stupid decisions and actions/treating lovers badly/indifferently, navigating one's way through the 'relationship stuff'. Exhausting really, and poor old Danny and Marianne seem to be in a constant state of exhaustion, which leaves you feeling drained, sad and actually very glad that you are no longer at that stage in life.

I am surprised how much I did like this book though, and put it down to the amazingness of the writing. Like so many Irish writers, the author captures emotion, angst, the heartfulness and torment of love, growing up. You feel you are there, that it could be you. There is so much to admire in how she writes about the smallness of the teenage life, how it expands, changes, and grows when moving away to a more stimulating and larger place, not just physically but intellectually too. The story, the plot line could be any book, but it is the writing that elevates this above the standard teenage love story.