Photo courtesy of Connor Warren
Relationships, both platonic and romantic, shape and influence how we think and who we become, even if we are unconscious of that fact. Author Sally Rooney explores this facet of life in her second novel, ‘Normal People.’ The novel explores the relationships between two young adults, Connell and Marianne, through their early adulthood. Conell, a middle-class football player, tows the line between his friend group and his desire to understand Marianne, who is a pariah. Marianne, a wealthy loner, carries the burden of her hidden relationship with Connell and her merciless bullying at the hands of her classmates. Throughout the years, the two drift apart and come back together again like celestial bodies stuck in each other’s orbit. Rooney explores the effects of unrequited love and the loneliness of isolation, both internally and interpersonally, as the pair try to understand who they are. This novel is currently available for check out at Scotland County Memorial Library.
