*****
I’ve managed to read quite a few books in the past two months (not a lot by normal standards but compared to last year, this is quite A LOT for me since I do not recall reading anything other than Shaw, Brownlie, numerous ICRC reports on autonomous weapons, ICJ judgements and a plethora of other international law stuff that Jessup required) and I devoured this book in almost one sitting. I heard so much about this book ever since it was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2018 but I ended up buying Milkman, the book that went on to win the Booker Prize 2018, from Blossom Book House and ignored this beauty. To be honest, I still haven’t gotten around to finishing Milkman. It’s quite rare for me to find fiction books nowadays that keep me hooked till the very end and books that I read while on a call, while eating, while brushing my teeth but finally- I was so glad I picked this one up. I kept reading it even when I was on a call with my boyfriend (sorry, if you’re reading this) and while waiting for my pizza to bake in the oven.
This book touches upon class, gender, sexuality, mental health and human relationships revolving around the microcosm of love. Connell and Marianne have grown up in the same rural town of Sligo in Ireland and also attend school together. Connell belongs to a working class family and his mother works as a cleaner at Marianne’s mansion. Connell goes to Marianne’s house after school to pick up his mother so that they can go home together, within this time he gets familiar with Marianne. Marianne is ordinary, least interested in parties, far from popular and friendless and Connell is quite the opposite- not the kind who loves parties but the kind who attends them anyway. They get intimate once and Connell is persistent on keeping their relationship a secret from everyone else at school. Hence, a connection blossoms between the two of them which they carry with them throughout the novel. Both of them apply to Trinity for college and both of them get in and things take a sudden turn. Marianne is popular, admired, a party goer if not a party person and Connell finds himself on the opposite end of the spectrum- less friends, unpopular and quite lonely. They get together, they part ways and see other people only to come back to each other. They discover that their lives are inexplicably related and they fall out only to fall back into each other’s lives one way or another.
Concluding Thoughts
I’ve already written about how much the book was un-put-down-able for me. I absolutely loved it even though at times I detested a few things that Connell and Marianne did but life’s not perfect but makes sense as a whole and that’s what the book is about. I also loved the writing, Rooney’s writing flows like poetry, it felt as if I was really present and that I was actually experiencing the story in Sligo, in Dublin, in Marianne’s mansion, at Connell’s house and everywhere else. Cannot think of a better book to enjoy with my umpteen number of green tea cups and coffee mugs when Bengaluru rains.
Literature, Poetry and Reading. 