Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

80 reviews

thevieira's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide, Body shaming, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Grief, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Death of parent

eldritch_flower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I've never read Sally Rooney, and I feel BETRAYED that my bookish friends didn't push me to read her work sooner. I literally only read this book because it was an impulse buy at Target(look I went in for gloves, spent $85 on books and shirts and snacks and forgot the gloves, don't judge me. You all know how Target works).

Anyways, I loved this. LOVED it. I finished it in a single sitting. I was there in my room at 11:30PM and thought to myself: "You know, I'll just get this book started. Read a few chapters and go to sleep." The next thing I know, it's 4AM and the book is done.

Our main characters are flawed, imperfect, and easy to dislike. But they are so damn compelling. It's a very character driven book. You really get into the heads of these people in a brilliant way. I don't want to give too much away because it's such a great read and it really needs to be experienced. 

But the bare basics of the plot is that we follow two people, Connell and Marianne. They're opposites and yet the same. We follow their journey as people and how they change over time, both with and without each other. It's beautifully written, it's sad, it's happy, it's impactful.

I definitely recommend this book. And if you'll excuse me, I need to go read the rest of Rooney's work

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Eating disorder, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

zeyreads's review against another edition

it wasn't interesting and i couldn't relate to the characters. also, i don't like the writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

fabtastnic's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Rape, and Suicide

camialafraise's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

hannahelizza556's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was fantastic, it was modern, highlighted everyday sexism in the modern world that many women face and abuse in the family home. It discusses mental illness in young adults being deeply affected by what they have done in the past and how it could shape their future. The writing in Normal People is tender and emotional while also being a romance novel. 

This book is stylistically uncomplicated to read, hence my reading time of 4 days to complete this book. One feature I would note is that speech marks aren't used at all in dialogue. Paragraphs would begin with dialogue, with a third person narration and Rooney would inject a line of free indirect discourse. 

Overall this is a lovely book with a somewhat innocence to it in that first loves are explored, first time experiences and the uncomplicated way in which the book is written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Classism, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

and_abigail's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

hm. not as good as I expected so maybe overhyped. the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory, but maybe that's on purpose? idk, there were definitely lines that ~hit different~ but overall I found it slow and anxiety-inducing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve finished Normal People by Sally Rooney in only a few sittings and was determined it wouldn’t get past three out of five stars for me, but the lonely tear I shed at the end of the book had me giving it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating. At first I had to get used to the lack of quotation marks whenever direct speech was incorporated into the story, which remained confusing albeit a little less as I continued. However, this is one of those books that will get you invested in its main characters since the reader gets to see both the events happening in their lives as well as the way Connell and Marianne look at life. You can’t really tell whether you like them or not, but you wish them well; after all, you know what goes on inside their minds and what has happened to them. You wish them well despite, no, because of their flaws. Because everyone’s flawed and so are you, and if they can find happiness, maybe it’s meant for you too.

Everything about this book felt so intense and complicated, even the ending, and I have to add that this is one of the books I believe should actually come with a few trigger warnings, maybe, if you’re not in the best place to read about certain issues.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, Vomit, and Violence

joujou_darrigood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Deadnaming

gabttap's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"it's funny the decisions you make because you like someone, he says, and then your whole life is different. i think we're at that weird age where life can change a lot from small decisions."

i was talking about this book with a friend a few days ago and i came to the conclusion that all the empty spaces left throughout the story made perfect sense for me. the empty spaces can be lack of depth, sure, but they were also what made me connect so much - i filled the emptiness with my own life and my own experiences. where connell and marianne's narrative ended, began my own, in between theirs.

it was a hard read and simultaneously not hard at all, and i could make sense of everything that'd bother if it had been written anywhere else - and by anyone else. it was hard to rate, too, but not giving it 5 stars would be unfair to how much it made me feel, think, relate.

normal people is truly unlike anything else, and i know i'll take connell and marianne with me for a really long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Bullying

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide