It's not terrible, but I find all those 5 star reviews perplexing. I was a fan of the book, reading it then listening to the audio book, but the lack of any real plot - not a huge problem in a literary novel - is glaringly apparent in a TV series. The dialogue in the book was excellent, which is probably why Sally Rooney was brought on as a screenwriter. But there's a world of difference between writing TV and writing novels, and it shows. Also, Connell seemed terribly miscast, appearing so much older than his supposed age (shades of Luke Perry in 90210...) And the ending - in the book as in the TV series - is stupid.