Normal People

by Sally Rooney

Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was and become part of it.

It occurred to Marianne how much she wanted to see him having sex with someone; it didn’t have to be her, it could be anybody. It would be beautiful just to watch him.

I would never pretend not to know you, Connell.

Connell always gets what he wants, and then feels sorry for himself when what he wants doesn’t make him happy.

She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person. But now she has a new life, of which this is the first moment, and even after many years have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life.

She believes Marianne lacks “warmth,” by which she means the ability to beg for love from people who hate her.

It suggests to Connell that the same imagination he uses as a reader is necessary to understand real people also, and to be intimate with them.

I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.