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ericispublius's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Body shaming, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Classism
michaelion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
My only issues are with the way it was written. That's more of a personal thing though. I find dialogue to be the most important part of a piece of media involving two or more people and in this book there are no quotation marks. The writing is very, very good, so the issue was when it flipped from being internal and external. Although I'm sure that was intentional. My other issue is I didn't like how their stories went. But that's another personal thing! If only they knew how to just talk to each other! Even still I think they're the kind of people who will get married in the future whether or not they work on themselves. They're it for each other. I like that, but I wish they were healthier!
Graphic: Classism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Bullying, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Minor: Drug use, Grief, Biphobia, Antisemitism, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Blood
paulaks's review against another edition
- 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
This book is A LOT while being quite uneventful. Being character driven, it follows 2 characters over 4 years. Documenting my life for that long would be the most boring piece of literature but Connell and Marianne are SO complicated and traumatized. That has to be my first warning: The amount of triggers that are passively talked about is worrying. Please check those before reading (I tried to list some). Overall the reading experience was quite intense. Since there are no quotation marks, the thoughts, storytelling and conversations blend in together which can be confusing but makes for a really intriguing experience. The writing style was 10/10 so no need to continue on that.
Honestly, you can categorize the people that read this novel by their rating into two groups: The group that didn´t build a connection, were annoyed or angry or aren´t empathetic (= ratings lower than 2.5). And the ones who identified themselves with character traits or are just really empathetic (= rating 2.5+). Just a little thesis of mine, don´t take it to seriously. But what you should take serious is the fact that if you can´t build any connection with one of the MCs by the 50% mark, there is little to no point in reading this. I was quite invested so here´s my experience: Their decision-making had me on my toes, even tho the way they continued making wrong choices was exhausting. But it´s definitely interesting how trauma can shape a human being. This aspect shocked me a few times and made me question my own behaviour.
Lastly, the title choice is well done. Who is normal? Are we normal people? Do we want to be normal people? At least I was trying to answer that question.
My rating right now would be a 4 star. The potential was there and maybe I´m the problem but sometimes there were illogical moments and situations that made me uncomfortable (most of the time with Marianne). As you can guess by my long review, this is a great book for a group discussion but be aware that this would reveal a lot of personal stuff since Normal people is an intimate story.
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Classism, Drug use, Abortion, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Blood, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting
valen_chialvo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Eating disorder
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Misogyny and Suicide
darikoz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Misogyny and Eating disorder
allouise's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Rape, and Self harm
pretentiousnerd's review against another edition
- 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
1.75
Not gonna go on and on about this waste of time but yeah... don't read this book if you expect something extraordinary...
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Violence, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug use
elishahdavis's review against another edition
2.0
i usually don’t check content warnings because i find that i can handle a lot of it fine, and even if i had checked them, i honestly would’ve read it anyways. but i urge you, please check the content warnings and take them very seriously. also the list storygraph has when you first look is incredibly insufficient. it has the vast majority of the content warnings on their full list of them. so just be aware of that.
the ending was a relief, but i was still very uncomfortable when they mentioned certain parts of their relationship dynamic. the very ending, as in like the last page was good. she seemed stable, and it seemed right, especially considering their unhealthy and extreme co-dependence. i just— the way i felt reading this book? i never want to feel that again. i felt sick and awful and i can’t even describe it. it was very well written, and, surprisingly, i liked the whole no quotation marks thing. i just felt like ive been falsely advertised to. how can this be someone’s favorite book? how could you recommend this to people that you like? i don’t get it. i think me and sally rooney are over, just because if her other books are like this one i will not be able to handle them. anyways i really do not know how to rate this. i saw some review that said after they were done reading they just thought “why? what was the point of that?” and it clicked for me. that’s exactly how i feel. i feel hurt and burdened in the worst possible way, wondering “why? that wasn’t worth it”. that’s the best way to summarize what i think of this book.
now off to read some ya romcom because this book is actually triggering me into depression, and i mean that literally, unfortunately.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent, Misogyny, and Vomit
sophiehoggins's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Violence, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
Minor: Alcohol and Blood