Can you imagine the feeling of repeatedly finding one person, someone you want to spend the rest of your hours doing nothing but enjoying time with, and only days after they’re there, they vanish? “Normal People” by Sally Rooney follows the lives of two Irish teenagers in the early 2010s. Connell Waldron, a high school boy from a middle-class family feels comfortable in his hometown. He’s the star of his school's soccer team, he gets along with almost anyone, and the way his grades look he has a bright future ahead of him. His life goes without a hitch until he starts interacting with the daughter of his mother’s employer, Marianne Sheridan. Marianne is far from ordinary, she goes to the same school as Connell and gets excellent grades, but she lacks the whole social aspect of her life. An omniscient third-person narrator tells the book. The conflict of the whole story mainly revolves around those two characters. They both share a deep unmoving love for each other, no matter who they’re with or where they are. But the timing in their relationship never seems to match up, causing heartbreak and pain for both of them constantly. When it comes to storytelling, I genuinely think this might be one of the best books I’ve ever read. Sally Rooney effortlessly weaves together a tight-knit story using beautiful word choice and swift changes in perspective that gives you an all-around look at the thoughts and feelings of the characters. The constant switch between characters helps to show how they rely on each other, without the voice of the other character, the story isn’t truly whole. The author also uses a plethora of flashbacks in the book, which gives all the background information you need to understand the current conflict between people. Another important literary technique that I found extremely interesting was the author's way of writing dialogue between characters. It’s written without quotation marks, which makes it feel like you’re truly hearing the conversation because the words of others and the thoughts of the main characters aren’t separated in the slightest. When it comes to what I’ve learned about myself, I am truly at a loss for words. I could say I look at relationships in a more critical way after reading all the ways Rooney picked them apart in her book, but It’s simply not true. I read how two people, both suffering in their own ways, came together to discover a sense of home and unity. I read how two people constantly separated and came back together because they knew deep down they weren't the same without the other. I’ve read and learned that things won’t always work out. People change and distance and time stress the soul. But life is not made of sadness, hardships, and anger. Life is shaped and created by those who you let close enough to love you and change you in the most beautiful way possible. I’ve learned that it’s not terrible things or the most amazing things that can change your life. Sometimes, It’s just normal people. -Mack
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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