REVIEW: The TV adaptation of Normal People

Here’s a horror story in four words: great book, bad adaptation.

I could think of a million ways in which Normal People, the new BBC3/Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, could have gone wrong. It could have leaned too heavily into melodrama, had terrible lead actors or (worse) had amazing lead actors with zero chemistry. The stakes were high for the Normal People adaptation, but as one of Rooney’s many ardent fans I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

Put simply, it’s beautifully done.

Directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie McDonald have done a tremendous job in bringing this love story to life. From the very first scene, it’s immediately obvious that every single person involved in this production has a deep love of the book. It’s not the kind of thing you can fake, and it shines through in every aspect, from the dialogue (rendered almost word for word from the text by writers Alice Birch, Mark O’Rowe and Sally Rooney herself) to the acting.

The strength of this adaptation undoubtedly lies in its two lead performances from Daisy Edgar-Jones (Marianne) and Paul Mescal (Connell). They had incredible chemistry, and both of them managed to make me see the characters I thought I knew so well in a whole new light. I didn’t cry when I read the novel and I would hesitate to label it a ‘heartbreaking’ read, as some have (am I heartless???), but seeing Connell and Marianne’s every emotion rendered visually brought it home in a way that felt new and completely raw, and I wasn’t quite prepared for that.

(Reader, I sobbed. Many times.)

It helps that the show doesn’t hold back when depicting the intensity of Connell and Marianne’s relationship, both physically and emotionally. Lingering closeup shots of their eyes, fingers and faces adds a level of intimacy that gives the actors the room to tell the story in the small details, much like Rooney does herself in the book. Each scene is also given enough breathing space to resonate properly, due in large part to the choice to split the story into 12 half-hour episodes. It’s absolutely the right approach to adapting a novel such as this, and it’s aided wonderfully by the costume choices and the production design. From the small town to the big city (the series was shot on location in Sligo and Dublin), the production design tells its own story of class difference and urban privilege that is mirrored in Connell and Marianne’s relationship.

As visually gorgeous as it is, if the Normal People adaptation has any drawbacks to speak of, it would be that some of the novel’s interiority is lost. A large part of the drama of the book happens inside its characters’ heads, and what Connell or Marianne perceive of a situation is often far more interesting and significant than the situation itself. Connell asking Rachel to the Debs instead of Marianne only seems like a minor incident until you spend some time inside Marianne’s head and see it for the betrayal that it is. So character interiority, rather than plot, is central to the book’s strength, and when we lose that access to their innermost thoughts Connell and Marianne’s ‘will-they-won’t-they’ love story becomes a little less compelling than it could be. This isn’t to say that the show is boring (although fans of pacy storytelling might find themselves a little restless), just that a lingering closeup is no substitute for a well-placed sentence … and that the solution to that is to simply read the book again. There’s still plenty to love about this version.

The most important thing that any book-to-screen adaptation needs to do is to not rob the viewer of the joy that the book gave them. I’ve watched far too many terrible book adaptations in my time (do not SPEAK to me about the Jane Eyre movie), but what this one does is give you a visual language to accompany the book’s quiet exploration of love and privilege. Normal People the show does not take away any of the exquisite joy of reading Normal People the book. Instead, it’s the perfect companion.

From its gorgeous acting and luscious visual storytelling, I don’t think I’ve seen an adaptation of a novel that’s been more lovingly done, save for perhaps Greta Gerwig’s recent Little Women adaptation. Its faults are few and I think this faithful retelling of Sally Rooney’s stunning novel is the most ideal adaptation we could have asked for.

—Normal People is showing now on Stan – find out more here.

Normal People

by Sally Rooney

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation - awkward but electrifying - something life-changing begins.

Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can't...

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About the Contributor

Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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