Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Normale mensen

I really wanted to love this book, especially considering all the hype that surrounds it. And there were definitely things that I enjoyed about it. I thought Connell and Marianne were really interesting as individual characters, Sally Rooney is very good at creating these very flawed but nonetheless relatable and sympathetic characters. Both Connell’s struggles with his mental health and Marianne’s abuse at home which leads her to pursue toxic friendships and relationships outside her home were very interesting to read. It’s a real shame that the relationship between the two was the most boring part of the book. The sentiment of two characters whose lives are intimately tangled together is a very intriguing one, but when their relationship ends up being a continuous cycle of miscommunication after miscommunication, it gets old pretty quickly. If it’s a trope you enjoy, this book will probably be right up your street. But for me, I’ve come to realise that no matter how well written (and this is a very well written book), it’s a trope that I really don’t enjoy.

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reading_racoon69's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was written beautifully. Although descriptive, there was never a single moment when I was bored or reading diagonally to get to the of a discription of a table or something uninteresting. What this book describes in detain isn’t sceneries or a very compelling plot, but mostly the very complex relationship between two people.
I thought it was beautiful.

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nklimczak's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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hjb_128's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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sararm318's review against another edition

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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? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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kd1322's review against another edition

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challenging sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

honestly this book was underwhelming. some of it just seemed pointless and I don't really understand why some elements were only shown at specific points like Connel's depression at the end. The themes were interesting and I like the way the book was written with time passing as it does represent their relationship well. the author has written it fairly well with the ability to really take you back to the past from a present moment, get you engaged with that story then pull you back to the present. however, the ending was so open and the book really wasn't as interesting as I would've liked it to be.

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elisalasater's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.25

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