Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Normale mensen by Sally Rooney

5 reviews

cdoubet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, and Rape

anton13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I was so sad to have to put it down. I have to say that I was in the beginning very skeptical about if I’d like it or not. Part of me didn’t even wanna read it. Now I’m glad I read it. It’s not my favorite cause of the heaviness of the story but it is well written and I enjoyed the relationship between the two mc’s. I do think that anyone that wants to read this should do an extensive look on trigger warnings cause this was so much more than I had expected from what I’ve heard from others. The end killed me. I can’t believe everything that happened within the last 50 pages. I’m happy for them both but also nooooo why did it have to end like that?! Connell is one of the best men out there and nothing can change my mind!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Body shaming, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Suicide, Classism, Self harm, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Blood

Minor: Antisemitism, Drug use, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Body horror, Excrement, and Eating disorder

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.25

ugghhh. i went into this really wanting to like it, but it was just not for me. that's partly my fault. i had decided to take a hiatus from reading The Song of Achilles because i knew it had a tragic ending and i'm not in the best mental state rn and wanted something uplifting, when i discovered both the ebook and audiobook of Normal People immediately available to borrow on Libby. don't know what i was thinking to not check the moods and content warnings if i wanted something lighthearted—that's literally what storygraph is for, totally on me.
in a word, this book was upsetting. i've heard someone (specifically, booktuber emmie) describe reading The Goldfinch (haven't read it myself) as having a kind of second-hand depression effect, and i understand it now because Normal People had this very effect of me. three particularly disturbing scenes come to mind:

Connell's former economics teacher attempting to sexually assault him, Marianne's entire relationship with Lukas, and the otherwise-nondescript scene ~88% through when Connell and Marianne have sex for the first time since their first year in college

. this latter scene was the worst of the bunch for me because they both felt so hollow—not in their characterization, Sally Rooney could never, but in their mental states. it's like they're both desperately grasping at something to give them a sense of fulfillment, but their desperation is so painfully undisguised that i found it genuinely depressing. from the very beginning there's a vague sense that the two will end up together in the end, so for it to amount to (at the time) this bleak scene makes their love seem more like inevitability, futility, rather than destiny. the ending doesn't do much to dispel this pervasive hopelessness. of course, this isn't an inherent downfall of the book, Sally Rooney is allowed to write a modern tragedy, it just very much wasn't for me, unfortunately.
with that main point out of the way, it was objectively well-written with lovely prose. i really liked its pacing, jumping forward in time but catching readers up with flashbacks. its general concept reminded me of The Namesake, following a character or characters across years of their life and focusing mainly on romantic relationships, and i prefer Normal People's execution over The Namesake's. 2⅜ stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, Infidelity, Abortion, Body shaming, Death, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, Addiction, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, War, Drug use, Racism, and Toxic friendship

emmawilkinson's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Violence