Normal People

The review

I found giving this book a rating to be very hard because even though I liked the concept and realistic nature of the plot, I could not see past the removal of quotation marks. My whole reading duration was spent rereading pages to see if I missed conversations, rather than falling in love with the story.  As a result, reading this book became tiresome and after a while everything sort of blurred together. However, I did read the electronic copy of this book, so I don’t know if that contributed to my difficulties.

Besides the full quotation marks fiasco, this book had something that many books are missing: normal people. Connell and Marianne were like those two teens that you knew in high school that obviously liked each other, yet held back because of …life. Fear. Uncertainty. They were young and made stupid choices, and then they were adults trying to fix those same mistakes by creating new ones.  But that’s what I liked about this book, it was honest. It shows a normal depiction of feelings and relationships without the cliché effect that gets thrown into many books featuring teens. I also LOVED the ending. I’m a firm believer that romance books do not always have to end with an ‘happily ever after’, so it was very refreshing to read an ambiguous ending for a change. I like having the power to imagine how the characters’ stories end, good or bad- I’m the decision maker.

Who should read this book?

If you can ignore the fact that there are no quotation marks, then go for it! The chemistry these two had been off the charts and the angst was amazing. If anything, you can “add” quotation marks (though I don’t suggest actually doing that).

Who shouldn’t read this book?

If you like quotation marks or are looking for a couple that actually talks about their feelings properly, skip this one.