NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (People) from the author of Conversations with Friends, “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan). “[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—The Washington Post ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t. WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country

We really did not have much to say about Normal People. When the book came up in our secondary discussion, almost everyone who read it immediately dismissed it as not worth talking much about. The majority of NUBClub found it poorly written and not credible. We basically couldn't believe the protagonist -- it made no sense why Marianne couldn't just stay in the good relationship she had when she knew it made her happy. There was something simply unreal about how she observed her own satisfaction and then for basically no reason did not fight to preserve it. This was true to some extent with Connell who also just decides to move or date other people basically just to make himself suffer, but Marianne takes this dynamic to an almost ridiculously masochistic level. The book is basically a shorter and worse written version of A Little Life. Sara defended the book, arguing that the class struggle depicted in the romance was good and that the chemistry between the characters was actually sympathetic. We all agreed on these points, pointing especially to the scholarship scene as a great example of the way the world differs for people of different backgrounds. But none of this could redeem the relentless need for Rooney to have her characters pointlessly torture themselves.