Normal People is a quiet, thoughtful meditation on the ways we influence each other- for both better and worse. Connell and Marianne attend school together as teenagers but pretend not to notice each other during school hours. After school, they gradually develop a relationship that affects the next four years of their lives (and likely much longer). Whether together or apart, as friend or foe or lover, the existence of the one marks the actions of the other.
This is less a love story and more a story about love. Marianne is hurt by nearly everyone that she has looked to for love, and Connell is no exception. Just as Marianne begins to count on him during their early relationship, he continues the trend of hurting Marianne a fit of adolescent idiocy. When Connell matures and finds himself needing Marianne she is skittish because she has been hurt before. The cycle of falling apart and coming back together continues over the four years chronicled in Normal People and likely continues on after as well. There is no pat happy ending here, no neat bow to wrap up the end of the story. The characters are flawed and frustrating and extremely human, and the ending is frustrating and human but not flawed. It’s the sort of book where you want to wrap up a character in a warm blanket and tuck them in to the couch with a mug of tea and tell them that everything will be ok with a little bit of time.