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The vast majority of debut novels make a small ripple and that's all. Sally Rooney has had the incredible fortune of hitting it big immediately, but with that comes the downside of criticism that many other early career novelists, still honing their craft, simply don't face.
I think holding Normal People up as a 'Marxist' novel which fails to satisfy confuses Sally Rooney's personal politics with the content of the novel. Political awareness is the background to the characters' lives, as it is for many millennials - but it is, at heart, a love story.
That said, there is something interesting and true in the idea that self-awareness is used in place of action; but again, I think this is a wider generational critique being applied over heavily to one book.
I don't think many articles outside Ireland (or the UK) entirely understand the class background of the characters & how it shapes their relationships. Some of the things written about the function of Connell's mum completely baffle me.
It's surprising how little is written about Connell's living situation and confidence in the classroom being so different from Marianne's - THIS is where class marks their relationship and Connell's personal journey.
But I've seen some reviews suggest the only surfacing of class is in the figure of his cleaner mum (who seems realistic to me!), missing how class impacts him and disadvantages him next to wealthy, well equipped peers.
There are lifestyle tropes that are very stereotypically aspirational millennial - Irish critics have placed that within the context of the Celtic Tiger - and critique can be made of some damaging behaviours that do feel glamourised.
But ultimately, Normal People is about each character's personal emancipation. Marianne was emotionally neglected and abused. She is suffering. Why is that so often left out of these pieces? It's central to the plot.
