From the Bookshelf of Closter Public Library…

[close] How to review a book with this much hype? Well, despite the good writing and some very interesting themes I was put off by the ultimate power the male lead (Connell) has over the female lead (Marianne), and the endless questions (by both) of self worth and their lack of communication. Granted, this may be very real behavior, and the characters are realistic (perhaps that is what is so indicative of a good writer that Rooney made me care about them), but it did not make me love the book, as absorbing and interesting as some of it was. Connell and Marianne grow up in the same town in Ireland, she is wealthy, his mother does the cleaning of her house. In high school they are drawn together, but Connell is too concerned about status, and refuses to go public with their relationship. Marianne (who otherwise seems to be strong and self reliant goes along with this). They end up at Trinity College (apparently an Irish Ivy league school) together, where Marianne is now the socially accepted one. The book goes back and forth about their relationship over several years, and certainly kept me interested and invested, but ultimately I was too put off by so much heavy handedness and melodrama, but maybe this shows the age gap between me and the characters and I have forgotten about the intensity of young love.