Normal People: One million copies sold

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Having now worked my way through the series I have to say that I have rarely seen a more perfect adaptation. Connell is a popular, handsome, and highly intelligent secondary school student who begins a relationship with the unpopular, intimidating, equally intelligent Marianne, whose mother employs Connell's mother as a cleaner. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

ANNE: You know, we've had several guests share this as a love on the podcast, and every time someone describes it and says what it means to them, I think, "I'm actually going to read it. Like he especially has strong people-pleasing qualities, and Olga has like this deep abandonment issue from her mother like literally walking out on the family when they were very young. The TV version glosses over the discussions around 'The Communist Manifesto' and the feminist bible 'The Golden Notebook'. Students from Trinity College Dublin were also featured in the series while filming at the university. But if you are like me and you do have that high tolerance for some tough stuff interspersed with a lot of beautiful love story, beautiful writing, then I would love for you to read this just because I'd love to know what you thought about it.Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH).

We’re grateful our community of readers is characterized by kindness, curiosity, and thoughtfulness. Since it’s rare that I find stories with protagonists exactly like me, I’ve learned to find elements of belonging in a wide range of narratives. NATALIE: Yes, that's part of the appeal, honestly, is if I enjoy this title, there's already built-in a few more from this author, so that's very cool. One of the things that was really tough for me with my burnout and, you know, really important precursor was I'm just a terrible sleeper. Her mother abandoned her and her brother when they were quite young because she wanted to go devote herself full-time to the revolution.And then in the present day, Candace has joined up with a band of, you know, the last few remaining survivors on Earth in this cult-like group, and she has a secret that she's not sure how she's going to reveal to the folks in her group. NATALIE: I was just like, these themes sound very interesting, and I understand the themes of empire and like using language, but I was like, how the hell is this going to be a book?

ANNE: A lot of readers struggle when they're reading about a character, and they're like, I just really can't understand why someone would make these decisions. I'm thinking of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, who also wrote The City of Brass trilogy, which I think you might really enjoy, especially after loving Babel. Among her peers at secondary school, Marianne is regarded as an oddball, but she denies caring about her social standing. Something else I think you'll like in this novel that is really about breaking free from past hurts is that throughout the book you see like pieces snap into place for Pieto and Olga as they understand how they've been holding themselves back in ways that completely make sense because of their past. This flexibility towards representation is expected from readers of color, but never demanded of white readers.Something that I really enjoyed finding out was that the author worked as a wedding planner to the wealthy.

You will hear me mention our Spring Book Preview in the past tense while recommending a book to Natalie. So You Loved A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and Severance by Ling Ma. I was pretty intimidated, I'll be honest, because when I read the premise, I was like, I don't even understand what this means.While Connell struggles to fit into the new environment, Marianne has made several friends, in contrast to her time in school. What's interesting as the book progresses is the way their roles reverse, especially when they go to Trinity College in Dublin.