Forster’s imperative, “Only connect,” serves as the motto for Howards End, the Eliot quote underscores the value of personal involvements.
The epigraph from George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda defines the parameters of Normal People: “It is one of the secrets that change of mental poise which has been fitly named conversion, that to many among us neither heaven nor earth has any revelation till some personality touches theirs with a peculiar influence, subduing them into receptiveness.”Īs E. As Bobbi and Frances were opposites, so, too, do Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron represent obverse individuals. Some of these matters transfer into Normal People. Each wants to be “someone worthy of praise, worthy of love.” The foursome endures alternating gender fluid affairs even as they sort through confusions about their intertwined life paths and egos. It becomes even more strained when they encounter her handsome trophy husband actor, Nick, and indulge in the life of the Dublin elite. In Conversations with Friends, the convent school bond between Bobbi (half of their spoken word duo) and Frances (a lesbian communist) is tested when they meet a successful photojournalist, Melissa, at a poetry performance. Each explores intimacy and integrity as power shifts between couples. Each contends with gender discrimination. Each deals with unexpected relationships between characters from different classes. It has made over 14 Most Anticipated book lists of 2019.īoth books share common themes. It won Waterstones Book of the Year and the An Post Irish Novel of the Year. Along with winning the Costa Prize for Novel of the Year, it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Normal People comes with its own flurry of well-deserved accolades. It also made several best ten book lists. That debut novel garnered Rooney a great deal of praise including a Young Writer of the Year award from the Sunday Times. Sally Rooney’s exemplary novel of the concatenation of an unlikely friendship, Normal People, follows quickly on the heels of her frisky romantic comedy, the delightful Conversations with Friends. Faber & Faber, 270 pages By Robert Allen Papinchak
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