Reviews

I did not like Normal People, but since so many people rave about Sally Rooney, I decided to read more of her works to see if it was just that one book. It wasn’t. Why she is so popular is beyond me. Firstly the goddamn quotations marks i mean ugh i cant. Secondly, why do some parts of this book feel like a manuscript for a movie or a show??

Two stars cause i did like the final 100ish pages. I think Rooney is strong at dialogue and emotion but i wish she would skip the “deep” rants about capitalism and society yada yada. They just feek pretentious and like they don’t fit. The characters are unlikable and whiny and their relationships are weird, no one is happy and no one knows how to communicates just likes in Normal People.

None the wiser, I will probably at some point read Conversations with friends too, as i like to suffer.

therestlessbookflea07's review against another edition

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2.0

The story is about four strangers with each pair as couples developing and coiling their ways to somehow acknowledge and pace to a beautiful world through romance, families, career and sex. That's it.

The novel presented great amounts of philosophical and historical musings exchanged by two of the four characters which I trouble to comprehend its main agenda. While reading, I anticipated that something monumental would happen upon discussion through emails, convincing myself that it was necessary since the two are illustrated as well-read individuals. But... I found nothing.

In apparent conversations and encounters throughout the novel, the couples exquisitely portrayed how awkward and painful dating works--adult dating to be exact.

The female characters are quite distrusting despite earning respectable positions in their established society. Meanwhile, the male characters are woeful. Portions of the story and fragments of the key story players reminded me of Marianne and Connell in Normal People (the book of which I slightly enjoyed).

Did not finished this book, only made it until page 295.