We’re back. At the end of Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo , the brothers, Peter and Ivan, reconcile, and Margaret plays a prominent role...

More housekeeping to begin: I received a notice from Google (although it could have been someone pretending to be Google) that certain...

To begin today, some housekeeping. It has come to my attention that the New York Times  ran an article last week on the Performative...

“Begin at the beginning," the King said , very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” This quote from Lewis Carroll in...

This week, for your consideration, a discussion of Sally Rooney’s 2024 novel I ntermezzo . Long time readers of this blog will recall...

This week, I want to finish looking at Normal People, although this rich book could easily yield more discussion. However, certain...

Sex is an integral part of Normal People. Let’s get a definition. (Wait…what? A definition of sex?) Yes, we all “know” what sex is, but I...

This week, let’s look at one of two major themes in Normal People, social class. I realize that last time, I left off with the threat to...

We’ve talked about how, at times, the locus of narration in Normal People can be hard to determine. That first sentence, “Marianne...

This week, let’s look more closely at the role of the narrator in Normal People. A definition, please. A person who narrates something,...

Normal People, I’m going to say, is a book of recollection. A story of two people, told from a future vantage point and ending in a way...

As we continue our exploration of Sally Rooney’s Normal People, let’s take a look at some structural issues. The story concerns two main...