--- title: Hulu's Normal People Strips Sally Rooney Hit of Its Urgency description: The BBC co-production is a polished but strangely muted interpretation of a narrative fueled by passion, trauma and loneliness. canonical: https://time.com/5827920/normal-people-hulu-review/ author: Judy Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-04-27T20:38:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:40:18.765Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Hulu's Normal People Strips Sally Rooney Hit of Its Urgency og:description: A polished but strangely muted interpretation of a novel fueled by passion, trauma and loneliness. og:url: https://time.com/5827920/normal-people-hulu-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73e70b9d5648f6eb/698a0d570116822f4097f4e1/dsc9272jul-03-2019rt-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: dsc9272jul-03-2019rt-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hulu's Normal People Strips Sally Rooney Hit of Its Urgency twitter:description: A polished but strangely muted interpretation of a novel fueled by passion, trauma and loneliness. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73e70b9d5648f6eb/698a0d570116822f4097f4e1/dsc9272jul-03-2019rt-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hulu's _Normal People_ Strips Sally Rooney's Hit Novel of Its Passion > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Apr 27, 2020 8:38 PM UTC  Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones in 'Normal People' Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones in 'Normal People'Hulu  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Apr 27, 2020 8:38 PM UTC [Sally Rooney](https://time.com/collection/time-100-next-2019/5718853/sally-rooney/) is the literary world’s latest voice of a generation, a 29-year-old Irish author who has published two hit novels about the romantic entanglements of bright young people in a society scarred by inequality. It is a mark of how quickly her star has risen that a miniseries based on Rooney’s second book, [_Normal People_](https://time.com/5567569/sally-rooney-normal-people-review/), will debut on Hulu just over a year after its stateside publication. The BBC co-production is a polished but strangely muted interpretation of a narrative fueled by passion, trauma and loneliness—and it magnifies the novel’s faults. The half-hour drama opens in rural Ireland, where Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) are in their final year of high school. He’s a popular athlete hiding his intelligence behind a good-natured grin in order to fit in with his rowdy friends. She’s a fiery, friendless misfit who shouts down teachers and bullies alike. Her family is rich but mean; his mom (Sarah Greene), who cleans Marianne’s house, loves him fiercely. Outside of school, their banter escalates into secret trysts. The sex is sublime. If only he weren’t ashamed to be seen with her and she didn’t lack the self-respect to push him. It ends badly. But it starts again the next year, when they’re both at the prestigious Trinity College in Dublin. The balance of power has shifted in Marianne’s favor; she’s become the queen of a wealthy, intellectual milieu, while Connell is adrift without his old buddies. A seemingly endless cycle of reconciliation and separation begins; though their connection is magnetic, the outside world always intervenes. Skillfully written though it was, the book often felt to me like an exercise, its characters two sides of an unworkable equation. The show repeats this problem while also—despite ideal performances from Edgar-Jones and Mescal, who have perfect chemistry—robbing Marianne and Connell of interiority. A dusty palette, twee indie-folk soundtrack and excessive length render Rooney’s dynamic, psychologically rich prose inert. ([_Room_](https://time.com/4080232/room-movie-brie-larson-emma-donoghue/) director Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie MacDonald, who helmed the BBC and Starz’s acclaimed 2018 _Howards End_ miniseries, split directing duties. MacDonald’s episodes, the final six, are tighter and more distinctive than their predecessors.) The result is hardly incompetent but never bold enough to transcend the standard literary adaptation. 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