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“All these years, they’ve been like two little plants sharing the same plot of soil, growing around one another, contorting to make room, taking certain unlikely positions.”I feel like this is one of the longest reviews I’ll write since I have so many things to say, so no need for a long introduction, and let’s start with the blurb.
Marianne is a rich, beautiful, intelligent teenager, but she’s bullied in high school. Connell is the popular, smart, football star of the school, but he’s the son of Marianne’s housekeeper. One day, when he came to pick his mother from Marianne’s house, he felt a connection between them. They started having sex, but also acted like strangers at school.
One year later they meet again in college. Marianne is the popular girl and Connell hangs in the sidelines. Throughout their year in college, they circle one another, they try to have different relationships but always end up going back together. Will they finally be together and have the happy ending couples usually have?
I have mixed feelings about this one, but the more I think about it, the more I found many things I didn’t like about this book:
1- First, the characters, I didn’t like them. Let’s start with Connell first. He’s an Asshole! The way he treated Marianne at the beginning was jerkish. Like I understand some people who didn’t want to show off their relationship, but because it’s a private matter. Connell didn’t want to be seen with Marianne because she was that weird bullied girl. And at some point, she was sexually assaulted, and her “supposed friends” started laughing at her. Connell did nothing, he didn’t stand for her. And Marianne, well she’s a girl who needs help, you can see it through her sayings and actions. I really wanted to feel something for Marianne, like anything, compassion, sadness, well I didn’t. Did they have a development at the end? Guess what, NO! The characters didn’t evolve at all, and I mean they went through so many things, how could they not change for just a little bit? Secondary characters have no purpose in the story other than creating more drama. There were some characters that I really wanted to know more about their story, like Marianne’s family since she had an abusive one, all I got is some short lines about her brother and how he once treated her.
2- Second, the story. OMG! I’ll resume it for you: Marianne and Connell meet, they hang up (sometimes), they have sex, they have a misunderstanding due to a miscommunication, they go their separate ways, restart again. It felt like I was in a loop that didn’t want to end! The story was too superficial for me. I really wanted to feel connected to the story, but the characters were complaining about so many teenager problems, and it was too much. To be honest, I’ve never felt more disconnected from a story. I didn’t care about the characters. The story felt too monotonous.
3- Third, the romance between Connell and Marianne. Is this normal to you guys? They have a toxic relationship, full of misunderstandings and MISCOMMUNICATION. I mean this is the basics. I understand that they are attracted to each other, but even the slightest feeling that they have chemistry, well, wasn’t present. Their relationship is the definition of: get over each other, you’re not compatible. And I’m sorry but I didn’t find that Connell was good to Marianne.
4- Fourth, the writing style. Normally a paragraph is a paragraph, and if you have a dialogue well there’s some punctuation to respect. Sally didn’t do that. Inside a paragraph you’ll find a replica by a character without punctuations. It confused me a lot especially at the beginning.
5- And finally, the political discussions. They were there just to be there. And they were so contradictory. Let me give you an example: Marianne is pro-Palestinian, she had a boyfriend who apparently is a Pro-Nazi, and when Connell pointed that out, she said and I quote “It’s free speech”. WHAT? I mean you can’t be standing with Palestinians and be okay with what happened to Jews back in WWII. They were many more that I will not discuss, just wanted to give you a glimpse.
What I liked about this book? Well, I loved the description of Connell’s panic attacks and depression. It felt real, and you can feel the struggle of a person suffering with mental health. And I respected Connell when he acknowledged he’s mentally suffering, and decided to see a therapist, contrary to Marianne. What I also liked is that even if I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style, I can’t deny that the story is so easy to read. Another thing is even if Marianne and Connell’s relationship wasn’t my cup of tea, but I couldn’t deny that Sally represented one of the biggest issues in a couple, which is miscommunication. If they only talked to each other, expressed their feelings and just tried to have a solution for their issues, they would have lived happily ever after.
I really wanted to like this story, but at the end I was disappointed. And to be honest I don’t understand the hype around it. It is definitely a 2 and a half stars read for me. Am I going to read another Sally Rooney’s Novel? I really don’t know, I will let time decide for me :p
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