Reviews with content warning for Grief - Normalūs žmonės

Not only was this whole book about a toxic relationship between these two, but the ending was so lacklustre. Also, why is she not using quotation marks??? I didn’t like that :/

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paulinskaja's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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filipa_maia's review against another edition

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sad slow-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

1.0

Normal People? NORMAL PEOPLE? Excuse me? That is nothing normal about these people. They need therapy. I'm just glad that, by the end, at least one of them is getting therapy. I'm so mad at this book, so mad at this story. Why? What have we done to Sally Rooney? Honestly, I read it because I do not DNF books but I though about giving up a couple of times. I just don't get the point.

I felt sorry for Marianne a couple of times. Her family is completely broken and she gets nothing from them. Her entire childhood was a mess, her time in school was a living hell... I get it. But when she gets older, when she became and adult, there is no excuse anymore. She replaced her childhood trauma for current trauma by dating a bunch of weird guys and having very wild sex. Just go get some help! Connell is just annoying since the beginning of the story and until the last page. That is one toxic relationship that should have stayed in high school.

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phantomeyer's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

The public’s opinion on this book is divided, and so too is mine.

Perhaps easiest to first discuss is the writing style. While you could argue that the lack of punctuated dialogue contributed to the impression that each scene wasn’t so much a distinct event as a one of many moments in time, it seemed a lazy method to achieve this goal. Punctuate the sentences properly, and it would have been more obvious just how mundane some of the descriptions were. Not that mundane is necessarily bad, but it doesn’t sit well with me that this stylistic choice could be sufficient to turn mediocre writing into “good” writing. I will admit, however, Rooney does make good word choices, which at times lead to rather evocative passages.

Next, the characters. I’ve seen complaints that the secondary characters aren’t fleshed out, but honestly I couldn’t care less. This book is about two people, and it makes sense to me that others seem unimportant in comparison. But let’s talk about these two characters. I don’t think they are unrealistic, but their arc felt rushed or disjointed at various points. Marianne all of a sudden fits in at college despite an incredibly isolating youth? Connell is intensely discomforted at the idea of dominating through violence, but gives away his former misgivings about psychological dominance without any reflection shared with the reader? It felt like Rooney was missing opportunities to explore interesting themes that would have added more depth to the book. Furthermore, skips such as these meant I was unable to maintain empathy consistently throughout the novel, and Marianne and Connell are not easy people to read about to begin with. You can’t afford to lose a reader’s empathy when your main characters’ struggles (to communicate, to make good decisions for themselves) become irritating without it.

This leads me to my thoughts about the plot. As a general rule, I enjoy character-driven plot, but I was tired of the constant back and forth by the end. A correction: I was tired of it a quarter of the way in. Their relationship felt largely repetitive, and the change in dynamic in the final act was not explored enough. If I had cared more about the characters, the ending might have been poignant, but as it was, I was just happy to be free of joyless characters and a book that had not quite reached its potential.

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czty27's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

3.75

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mirandalikesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

I felt like I was rooting for Connell and Marianne while at the same time not really knowing what I was rooting for. This discussion of power dynamics was really beautifully done.

But

i have never read a book that ended so abruptly and i think i love it?

Honestly I did struggle with the dialogue not being in quotation marks...but I did adjust!!!

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packedjam's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

😵‍💫

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pestowing's review against another edition

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reflective sad 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

4.0

When people said this book was sad, I expected it to be in a gutwrenching way but it was more sad in a sorry way. Life just sucks sometimes--our circumstances, our minds--and we have to keep moving anyways. I think how annoyed I felt at this book at times is a testament to how real it is. I kept yelling at the Marianne and Connell to "JUST COMMUNICATE!!" but let's be real, I'm no different. What I love the most about this book is that the resolution of the book wasn't necessarily the ending, it was the realization I had about myself a few hours later.

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