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At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.
1. How is this so relatable? Why does it feel like every secret fear I have about myself being unlovable and alien has been scooped out of the deepest darkest part of my brain and dumped onto a page 2. They are my age. How did it take me this long to realise I am the same age?! I was flicking back through the pages and wow. I graduated high school in 2011
listen…….I fully expected to be on the hater side of the aisle on this one . but I am normal people and normal people is me - at least mid twenties me. were they insufferable? yes. were they lacking in personal growth? yes. did I find them incredibly relatable? unfortunately, also yes. 5 stars.
*even bigger sigh* unfortunately this is DETRIMENTALLY relatable