When the story begins, Marianne is rich and as smart as can be, but isolated from most people, having no friends at school, although she doesn't seem to mind that much. Connell is one of Marianne's classmates, also quite smart, but he is not in a privileged class—his single mother works for Marianne's mother as a housekeeper. He is quiet but well-liked at school. He picks his mother up from Marianne's house regularly and gets to know Marianne, starting off a quiet friendship and later a sexual relationship as well, but he will not acknowledge Marianne at school, where his friends are openly unkind to her. Marianne encourages him to apply for the college she plans to go to and he gets in, but at college, he is somewhat listless, feeling like he doesn't really belong.This compelling story takes us through four years of their intersecting lives, sometimes from Marianne's point of view and sometimes from Connell's. Angst comes almost as a given, considering their youth, and the author shares their mindsets clearly, with few words. It's a somewhat haunting novel.
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