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.

Marianne’s classmates all seem to like school so much and find it normal. To dress in the same uniform every day, to comply at all times with arbitrary rules, to be scrutinised and monitored for misbehavior, this is normal to them.

If she was different with Connell, the difference was not happening inside herself, in her personhood, but in between them, in the dynamic.

With only a little subterfuge he can live two entirely separate existences, never confronting the ultimate question of what to do with himself or what kind of person he is.

Generally I find men are a lot more concerned with limiting the freedoms of women than exercising personal freedom for themselves, says Marianne.

The money is also real. Well, but the time is more real. Time consists of physics, money is just a social construct.

Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.

I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I cared what people thought of me.