Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Normal People

original rating: 5 stars
re-read rating: 4 stars

ooof. i think this was my third time re reading normal people and i think i'm finally at a point where i can review this properly.

so i love love love the first 3/4 of this! i really do, it's such a soothing read for when i feel super overwhelmed (which is why i picked this up again this time) and connell and marianne are both very special and important characters to me and i always feel very seen reading this. personally, i don't see this as a love story per se, and i stand by that, but rather as a very layered exploration of these two characters and what problems different class statuses (and miscommunication lol) can bring to relationships.
i knocked this down from five stars (to my surprise!) because the unraveling, so everything that happens after marianne goes to sweden, felt quite fast and hectic and just a bit too sudden? and then it got resolved rather quickly as well. i find it especially unrealistic (not that it needs to be realistic but ya know) that marianne is able to seemingly move past all her issues with food, her body and her trauma without any professional help whatsoever and is just okay, is fine at the end.
so, long story short, i still love this book, i still love sally rooney, i love seeing myself in fictional anxious english students, and i will definitely revisit this in the future, it's just not a perfect 100% read for me anymore (and that's okay)!

Content Warnings

haleydeanna's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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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.

Content Warnings

lookinabook's review against another edition

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dark 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

5.0

This book fucked me up. Five stars.

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azilisssss's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective relaxing sad 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

4.5

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hufwulf's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

all i have to say is that id totally tattoo this book on my forehead

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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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