In television, you sometimes encounter the concept of the bottle episode. Though it generally means an episode of limited scope and filmed inexpensively, I most often think of the bottle episodes that all take place in one location.
It’s nice, too, if you don’t notice the inexpensive quality of the episode, and it becomes a seamless addition to the season. (The truly *perfect* example of this is “Free Churro” from the fifth season of BoJack Horseman.)
I also think of some books as their own bottle experiences, in the sense that when you’re a fast reader, you can sometimes associate books with one location or moment in time. I always found this project cool for that reason – a book could take me back to a specific random week in 2014 with just a quick memory jog from a blog post.
Sally Rooney’s books have apparently become bottle books for me. It has to do with those external circumstances – namely, the way I read these books. I chose Normal People for my trip to Toronto; similarly, I chose Conversations With Friends when I traveled to Israel. I finished this over the course of a couple of beach trips and an extended wait for my sister in the airport.
I wanted to escape into a book that would ultimately remind me of a place and a moment in time. It was easy to remember that cozy feeling of being enveloped by Normal People while traveling Toronto – an experience that will only exist at that time and in a different place than my usual reading spots by the pool, on my couch and in the park.
The book itself is a lovely slow build with complex characters and complicated situations. Though I’m partial to books with multiple perspectives and narrators, I’ll admit that it’s more of a reflection of real life to have to trust your narrator as she navigates her life, trying to understand motivations and actions of others while never really being sure what anyone else is thinking.
But you still get some of the beauty of shifting perspective even without a changing narrator in that Rooney artfully shifts the types of interactions her main character has with those around her – not just talking, but instant messages and texts and emails, too. And in the ways in which they are subjects of each others’ art.
The reader is witness to all of these conversations (of all types) with friends (of fleeting and changing significance). How lucky we are.
You’ll like this if: you liked Normal People, for one. Also, if you’re looking for a story that is both immersive and surprising – it unfolds slowly. It’s a perfect beach read, but not in the sense that it’s simple or quick; instead, it’s a book that you can linger over while laying out.
Happy reading!
Other Suggested Content:
– carlyreads review of Normal People
– “Even If You Beat Me“, Sally Rooney’s first essay. Don’t miss this one – if nothing else, for this perfect line and all that leads to it: “Success doesn’t come from within; it’s given to you by other people, and other people can take it away.”
– “The Cult of Sally Rooney” from Vox
carlyreads 