Normal People by Sally Rooney

Rating: 7.5/10

I was told to read this book before the Hulu adapted version came out and I did not do it and then proceeded to watch the show, which gutted me in the sexiest way possible. Flashforward to me reading it now, and I am sitting here, again, gutted, in tears, and oddly in the mood to make out with someone to take the pain away. Sally Rooney does an amazing job making you scream throughout an entire book due to the absolute frustration of having two deeply complex yet seemingly FOOLISH characters interact. 

If you watched the show but haven’t read the book, I would say only do so if it won’t bore you to basically watch it again. I didn’t realize Hulu took the source material as a bible, not deviating whatsoever. It felt like I was reading the script. 

Yet, I believe the book allows for more moments where you hold your breath, shout out in agony (whether from horniness or shocking sadness [or a fun combo of the two]). If you can withstand Rooney’s writing style where characters speaking and item descriptions are written in the same fashion (took my brain a few pages to get with it) then jump into this! It was a quick read and I truly hope another book can make me feel this pit of sensual despair. Paul Mescal, please call me.