Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Normalūs žmonės by Sally Rooney

238 reviews

geesmu's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, and Classism

lilias's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

In the beginning I kept thinking: When Harry Met Sally but make it shoe-gazing. Overall, I found this book to be both captivating and frustrating. I really loved certain aspects of Sally Rooney’s writing. Her moments that were here and now regarding Connell and Marianne were fantastic, and I reread some passages in awe of how well she showed the subtleties of human interaction. But I never really knew how we got here and there, especially when it came to Marianne. 

We mainly see things from Connell’s point of view. His mom, Lorraine, is a wonderful person and raised him on her own. He has a passion for reading, literature, especially. He is a poor kid who is constantly surrounded by rich kids, and the reminder of his background never goes away. It’s exasperated by Marianne, through no fault of her own, because she’s a girl who comes from an exceptionally rich family. His conventional views keep him from allowing Marianne to live at her full potential around him. He won’t reveal certain weaknesses around her, making their relationship full of potential but always unbalanced. Marianne feels that potential but blames herself for them never reaching it. Her leap to self-blame is probably familiar to a lot of women readers, and it’s furthered by her family, which is abusive. 

For some reason, Marianne, as a character, is not as fully formed as Connell. At times, it was as though Marianne was losing both as a character within the story and a character on the page. Towards the end of the book, I started to dread reading more. I usually read dark books, but the constant cruelty Marianne kept having to endure just wore me out. I wish Rooney had left it out because distracted from the central character studies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, and Domestic abuse

In the beginning I kept thinking: When Harry Met Sally but make it shoe-gazing. Overall, I found this book to be both captivating and frustrating. I really loved certain aspects of Sally Rooney’s writing. Her moments that were here and now regarding Connell and Marianne were fantastic, and I reread some passages in awe of how well she showed the subtleties of human interaction. But I never really knew how we got here and there, especially when it came to Marianne. We mainly see things from Connell’s point of view. His mom, Lorraine, is a wonderful person and raised him on her own. He has a passion for reading, literature, especially. He is a poor kid who is constantly surrounded by rich kids, and the reminder of his background never goes away. It’s exasperated by Marianne, through no fault of her own, because she’s a girl who comes from an exceptionally rich family. His conventional views keep him from allowing Marianne to live at her full potential around him. He won’t reveal certain weaknesses around her, making their relationship full of potential but always unbalanced. Marianne feels that potential but blames herself for them never reaching it. Her leap to self-blame is probably familiar to a lot of women readers, and it’s furthered by her family, which is abusive. For some reason, Marianne, as a character, is not as fully formed as Connell. At times, it was as though Marianne was losing both as a character within the story and a character on the page. Towards the end of the book, I started to dread reading more. I usually read dark books, but the constant cruelty Marianne kept having to endure just wore me out. I wish Rooney had left it out because distracted from the central character studies.

henyouise's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.5

I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to. I think it's beacuase it's so unsatisfying. But I think that's the point. But I liked Sally Rooney's writing style and am interested in reading more of her books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Grief, Domestic abuse, Classism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Bullying

Moderate: Death and Eating disorder

camillarossi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

stephyrm's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death

Minor: Blood, Classism, Death of parent, and Drug use

haleybspiegel's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

froggybooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Classism, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: War

gondorgirl's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Sexual content, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Classism, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

joscelynhe's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Overrated. Didn’t like the writing style (nothing that was actually “said” was put in quotes - it was more distracting than anything else and I couldn’t get used to it the entire book). I felt so much secondhand embarrassment over every other interaction that the two main characters had with each other and with friends/family. Neither of them know how to communicate effectively and so you end up following the story of this on-again-off-again young couple who are not very likable to begin with and who end up not growing or learning much AT ALL by the end of the story. UGH. I’m so frustrated. I haven’t read a book this disappointing in a long time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

readsbykels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Cursing, Classism, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Drug use, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Death, Alcoholism, and Body shaming