I've just re-watched Normal People. Marianne and Connell have a terrible relationship

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. And that is, Marianne and Connell, the very white and horny teenagers from Sally Rooney’s wonderful imagination, have a terrible, terrible relationship. As Marianne describes Connell in the book, he’s a “big baby tooth”. And yes, Connell tells Marianne they can stop having sex if it hurts, but she also cries when she takes naked photos that he’d asked her for, and the first time she says, “Not tonight, honey” due to period cramps, he looks like a five-year-old who’s been told Disneyland had closed down. His lovely Irish accent means he could say, “I’ve got a plate of mouldy cabbage” and you would buckle at the knees – but that sentence contains seven words and would be a stretch for Connell Waldron.