“I don't know what's wrong with me, says Marianne. I don't know why I can't be like normal people.”
That’s the question that millennials always try to find out in their lives like Marianne and Connell. But what’s normal? Being normal and being loved are life lessons for most people. In the process of finding the correct answer, Marianne and Connell both have to learn how to love people and try to find their positions outside of their comfort zones. Peer pressure makes them keep making mistakes with each other and turns out none of their friends actually care much about them. They are two vulnerable souls who keep challenging each other, they can argue with elitism for a scholarship, debating class systems that represent where they come from.
The characters that Sally Rooney creates do not just talk about “love” in a millennial romance story, but more precisely “humanity” in adolescents. Moreover, another interesting issue is discussed in their relationship, a dysfunctional family can seriously affect people’s mental health, and what that can bring to a relationship in a negative way. Marianne’s families never love her properly, so she never feels she is loved. But Connell gives Marianne a shelter, a home. They are not just loyal friends, lovers or families but soul mates.
Following two completely different personalities but intelligent young adults collide with each other and picking up their answers piece by piece can cause a great influence on us as well.
