Normal People by Sally Rooney

I read this book because I saw an ad for the show on Hulu and it is supposedly the best book of the year and whatnot.  Major hype.  There was a wait list for it at the library.  I was very excited.


I don't get it.  I mean, I understood the book.  It was a very simple book.  Two teenagers/early 20's kids have a slightly dysfunctional relationship.  The girl is being abused at home, both physically and emotionally, and all the adults in her life either don't know or don't care.  The boy is from a good home that people think is bad because his mom had him young.  He is way too wrapped up in what people think of him, which makes him act like a dick.  Normal stuff.  Which I guess was the point, because it's called "Normal People" but I just don't get what all the fuss was about.  Nothing at all happened in the book.  It wasn't a bad book.  I read it all in one afternoon.  It wasn't tedious or particularly boring.  It just didn't make me think or feel.



Maybe the problem is that I went into it expecting something profound.  It wouldn't be the first time the world went bonkers over a book that made me go "seriously?"  But at the end of the day, I rate it "meh."  Not a total waste of time, but there are better things to read.

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