I get why they called this book normal people — while wondering why the relationships in this book are so dysfunctional, I was marveling at how relatable and commonplace the characters, circumstances and places are.
Wished he knew how other people conducted their private lives, so that he could copy from example
There is a strong resonance with the teenagers in the book on the cusp of entering adulthood. Readers first meet Connell and Marianne in high school, riddled with teen insecurities and figuring out how to sculpt their mannerisms and personas. The magnetism between the two stems from their alienation from their contemporaries and social conventions.
“Really she has everything going for her. She has no idea what she’s going to do with her life.”
“felt a sense of crushing inferiority to his fellow students, as if he had upgraded himself accidentally to an intellectual level far above his own.”
There are many themes that I (fortunately) cannot relate personally to. But any product of the modern education system can relate to the difficulty of bridging the gap between spoon-fed adolescence, and independent adulthood. My dad labels this as a ‘first world problem’ — “in my time, making money was the sole direction.” Yet Marianne and Connell both tick the prescribed boxes without understanding the significance of those little ticks, struggling to orient themselves.
“She bought him things all the time, things she would pay for and then instantly, permanently, forget about.
“That’s money, the substance that makes the world real. There’s something so corrupt and sexy about it.”
Readers get acquainted with social issues like how money orders society into a hierarchy, into a transactional system of contributions and rewards. Money becomes an obtrusive force in Marianne and Connell’s relationship, delineating the elitist borders of social interactions and shaping their experiences.
It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to Ted about.
Education becomes a commodity; credentials become a defining label; books and culture are a class symbol. It’s symbiotic relationship with money makes education a prerequisite to rise in a meritocratic society. I could hear Michael Sandel’s words of credentialism and educational institutions as the arbiters of opportunity echoing.
He feels his power over her again, the openness in her eyes
But the predominant theme is that of human relationships: the web of love, power, protection and ownership. There is intense vulnerability in this book that makes it raw, compelling, real. As readers we confront the self-destructive yet empowering nature of Marianne and Connell’s relationship and follow them on their bumpy journey from high school to adulthood.
JR's Journal 