Irish Author Sally Rooney's Novel "Normal People" Is an Unconventional Coming of Age Story

 Sally Rooney (b Ireland 1991) has written a quirky and touching story of two teens from a small Irish town who see themselves as navigating outside the perceived norms of their peers.  Marianne is from a wealthy but totally dysfunctional family.  She has no friends, no idea how to make friends nor  feels compelled to conform to imposed social constraints.  She attends the same local high school as Connell, a handsome, athletic and popular boy she admires from afar.  Connell's mother is the housekeeper for Marianne's mother and the two have a fractured relationship drawn from short interactions at Marianne's home.  Their relationship becomes sexual but is kept under wraps from everyone for fear of...what exactly?  Humiliation and shame on Connell's part for his liaison with Marianne?  Further alienation from her peers on Marianne's part  for whom she feigns not to care.  Believing they both share similar views on the world they're  drawn into a symbiotic relationship that is fulfilling, comforting and destructive.  Rooney gets us into the mindset for both and we're simultaneously empathetic, appreciative and repulsed by their behaviors and co-dependence.   The two leave their small town for the Univ. in Dublin where their relationship flourishes without the guise of subterfuge.  As Connell grows more adjusted to the world and Marianne's world regresses they grow apart yet remain tightly rooted to one another.  Rooney's unique coming of age tale is incredibly perceptive of how and why people interact.  Connell wonders "Is the world such an evil place, that love should be indistinguishable from the basest most abusive forms of violence."  Marianne thinks that those obsessed with popularity become desperate and capable of cruelty.  Both view themselves as flawed and desperately wish themselves able to feel normal and concede the parts of themselves they think shameful and confusing.  "Normal People" is a deeply sensitive and intriguing novel that is far superior than the normal coming of age story.