A few days ago I finished and returned Sally Rooney's Normal People to my local library and while there picked up How to Be Famous by a comedian I like, Caitlin Moran. I'm about to go where I generally never will, and discuss the books in a way that scatters spoilers like pollen.
There are a number of areas of overlap between the two. The writers are women of Irish stock--one from Ireland and the other from England. The protagonists are female teens, each faces public shaming at some point, each has challenging parents, each is in love but not in the boyfriendgirlfriend relationship they would choose.
There are many differences, as well. Sally Rooney is herself twenty-seven years old. Caitlin Moran is in her early forties. Marianne, in Normal People, is traumatized by her young life to the point that she becomes self-destructive; Dolly Wilde is as innocent and audacious as can be. Both are brilliant. Rooney traces the lives of Marianne and Cornell with a deeply serious and delicate touch; Moran writes in a rumbustious and frequently hilarious style, giving her book a lighter feel for much of its length.
In fact, they are equally serious novels, examining abuse, desire, and self-understanding. Moran squares off against sexism and sex in a way I have never before seen. It is brutal and beautiful. Rooney focusses on the ways we betray ourselves in answer to betrayal, and can help each other mend.
One thing that upset some readers of Normal People was the "stereotypical" roles the female and male protagonists played. I disagree with that assessment; portraying sexism doesn't invent it. But even I hesitated when I saw the way in which the resolution came about, with Marianne needing Cornell in ways that leave the reader, in particular the feminist reader, squirming a little bit. Dolly Wilde has no such problem. Her resolution is entirely--as soon as I wrote that word I knew it wasn't quite right--independent, or at least largely female generated.
But that's all right. I don't need all my female protagonists to soar above their wounds. Some wounds don't heal so completely. Nor do I need to leave every book feeling settled, and sure. I like that I've had to reflect carefully on Normal People and on its ending, just as I like that Moran makes it very clear how this particular aspect of sexism works, and how women can combat it in ways men can't.
I love that my library has these books for me to read. Now. On to David Chariandy and Brother.
Normal People by Sally Rooney was longlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize and won the 2018 Costa Novel Award. "Irish writer Sally Rooney wins 2018 Costa Novel Award for 'trailblazing' book, Normal People" by Jane van Koeverden for CBC Books.
"How to Be Famous by Caitlin Moran review – sex, drugs and Britpop" review by Kitty Empire for The Guardian.
