Hulu really nailed it with "Normal People"

Book to screen adaptations have been popular for as long as I have walked this earth. I remember the excitement of seeing the "Twilight" adaptation reach theaters, as well as "Hunger Games", "Harry Potter" and "Divergent". Its no surprise that great content is driven from an amazing story, and seeing streaming services pop up with novel to small screen adaptations over the last few years has made my book loving heart extremely happy.

In 2020, "Normal People" debuted on Hulu in the United States. At the time it did, I was caught up with my own personal adventure through a furlough and pandemic. Moving back home with my parents for a month to ride out what turned into be one of the hardest seasons to get through in my adult life so far gave me a lot of free time. Reading during that time, and for the course of the past two years after, has become a hobby that truthfully allows me to escape into a different world.

Normal People by Sally Rooney, the book version rating: 8.75/10

This is one of those books that stays with you after you read it. Since my own divulgence into Sally Rooney's concise writing style, I've taken it upon myself to try to read anything she writes. The character-driven plot and observation of human behavior from a young adult type of view is authentically human. Rooney has a way of deconstructing a character's psyche with a narrative that is straightforward, yet makes you evaluate your own personal thoughts and desires. If you're used to a certain type of writing style, Rooney's distinctive use of not using quotation marks may throw you off, but I promise, if you can continue on and get used to it, the read is worth it! It also happens to make for an easy read once you have found yourself assimilating into Rooney's world-building.

Normal People, available to stream on Hulu rating: 7.5/10

In 30 minute short digestible episodes, Connell and Marianne's relationship develops in Ireland, where the setting of the book is located. Props to the adaptation for keeping intact Rooney's language style, depicting the book's staccato narrative incredibly well within the script writing. I loved the music choices and cliffhangers of the episodes. This helped to drive forward the binge-worthiness, and even though I knew exactly how things would turn out, the acting of both Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal is raw, real and heart wrenching. The casting in this adaptation is exactly how I imagined the main characters in my mind while reading, and made the series all the more watchable for me.