On September 7th, 2021, Irish author Sally Rooney published her third novel titled Beautiful World, Where Are You. That day, I went online and ordered a copy for myself. I cannot remember the last time I cared so deeply about an author’s work to count down the days I could get my hands on something they have created. Sally Rooney’s writing does something to me that no other author has done. As a child, I explored Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry through the pages of the Harry Potter series and went to Camp Half-Blood with Percy Jackson. Still, Rooney’s two stand alone novels changed me more than any spell or prophecy ever had before. Specifically, her second book, Normal People.
I first read Normal People early in 2021 after finishing the television adaptation of the novel on Hulu. My reading habits were non-existent around that time. I hadn’t read a book for pleasure in maybe five years. However, once I finished the twelve episode series, I immediately ordered the book. It is a fact that the book is almost always better than any film adaptation of it so my expectations were very high. The show was a brilliantly intimate work of art that made me feel every emotion imaginable and I was so excited to explore the source material.
By the first page I was in love. I was in love with the characters. I was in love with the storytelling. I was in love with the concept. I was in love with the dialogue. And I was in love with Rooney’s writing. Sure, some of her choices come off unconventional such as not indicating dialogue with quotation marks, but after a while it is barely noticeable.
The story follows two young adults as they navigate life, love, school and finding themselves. Marianne Sheridan is a witty loner who lives in a wealthy neighborhood with an abusive family. Connell Waldron is a people-pleasing jock whose mom cleans Marianne’s house to make money. As they leave high school and end up at the same university, these roles reverse and suddenly Connell is trying to fit in while Marianne has tons of friends. Their on-again-off-again friends with benefits type relationship throughout the novel is the main idea of the story, but it is mainly character driven.
I personally found Marianne to be the most relatable fictional character I had ever come to know. A good friend of mine sees Connell as a reflection of herself. Meanwhile, some reviews of the book call the characters insufferable and poorly written. I had to reflect on why that was an opinion with certain people. I came to the conclusion that they were right to a certain extent. Connell and Marianne are insufferable. Connell and Marianne are human.
Human beings are frustrating and flawed and bad at communicating and confused and lost just like Connell and Marianne. Yet despite these “insufferable” traits, Connell and Marianne are successful and loved. Rooney writes them in a way that is so honest and raw that I do not blame some readers for hating it. They say things they should not and act in ways that are not ideal to the situations they are in. It can be uncomfortable to read for a myriad of reasons.
For me, it was uncomfortable to feel so perceived by a 30-year-old author living in Ireland who has no idea I exist. Reading Normal People was like reading a personal diary of mine (except legible and eloquently worded).
Eleven pages in the readers are presented with the statement, “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 is the feeling of being so lost in the world that living your life feels so artificial and temporary. Rooney is able to capture it with a single line which makes the story feel so personal. I have never read a book as confrontational as Normal People. Rooney does not hold back in her writing and I am eternally grateful for it.
Reading the deep thoughts and intricacies of Rooney’s characters has helped me learn a lot about myself. Someone finally put into words emotions that I had felt throughout my life which I could never explain prior. Her attention to detail with her descriptive writing has also given me more appreciation for the little things in life.
Books can take you places from the top of Mount Olympus to a magical school hidden in the hills of Scotland. For me, Normal People took me somewhere even better and more worthwhile. The two hundred and seventy three pages took me to the world I live in with a better understanding of myself and my flaws and my emotions.
Beautiful World, Where Are You comes in the mail in a few days and I cannot wait to find out what other feelings I have been repressing or unable to find the words to describe.