The beauty and brutality of Normal People
by Cathy Buckmaster
The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed and bestselling second novel, Normal People, has caused quite a stir amongst audiences. There’s even a fan account dedicated to one of the main character’s trademark accessory, Connell’s Chain, which at the time of writing has 135,000 thirsty followers.
The magic of Rooney’s novels is that they are at once intellectual and un-put-downable and most importantly, of our time — Normal People was long-listed for the Man Booker in 2018, but yet remains accessible, stoking something that is seemingly universal.
The 12-part BBC adaptation of Normal People is directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald and written by Rooney herself with Alice Birch. It has been heavily been praised for its faithful adaptation, which retains the pared-down approach of the book.
Normal People follows the interwoven lives of Marianne and Connell, starting with their final year of school in Sligo and subsequently following on to their time in Trinity College in Dublin. It charts their role reversal from school to university, as well as the euphoric highs and despondent lows of first love — theirs as much intellectual as it is sexual. We see the ease both parties have in understanding each other but also the difficulty they find in communicating.
Those familiar with the novel knew of the book’s fraught and frequent sexual intimacies — and the BBC adaptation did not shy away from depicting them with very realistic sex scenes (with the help of an intimacy coach). While the actors who play Connell and Marianne, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones respectively, are 21 and 24, there has been much anguish for some viewers that they’re essentially watching teenagers having sex.
The debate reached new highs on an Irish radio show, Joe Duffy's Liveline, where some unimpressed viewers rang in to dub the programme ‘immoral’. One critic was particularly offended by the age of the characters, arguing "I just think it’s wrong to be watching children having sex." Another caller, Mary, exclaimed it was "something you would expect to see in a porno movie".
Whatever you think about Normal People, we have it to thank for introducing "it's like something from a porno movie" into the reviewer’s lexicon. Watch Normal People on RTE or BBC iPlayer.