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everythingeatsandiseaten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
much of contemporary romance, especially from the 2000s and onwards feels like a wet dream— on one hand you have dark romance & monster smut, in the middle the absolute disgrace of colleen hoover, and on the other you get esoteric nonsense that fosters individuality through romanticizing mental illness and trauma.
not to say normal people is the extreme fault of the latter at all; i’d say the biggest fault i find is within its predictability, although i wasn’t quite expecting originality from a booktok recommended novel! to give credit where credit is due, i thought rooney did a wonderful job of creating a realistic romance, however idyllic. she has so much capability with dialogue and the natural cadences of body language and movement and conversation, which is beautiful for preserving culture in a time where human nature and behavior has advanced so much and become so complex!
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
laasenpai's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
hilumin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Racism, and Pregnancy
cmw276'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
5.0
MINI SPOILER WARNING
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
rhhapsodos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Eating disorder
dilani's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent
texanriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Suicide
mhsieh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked reading about Marianne and how deeply her
Connell’s decisions to hide his relationship with Marianne and his later feelings of isolation in college directly connects to the title of this book and goes to show how much being perceived as “not normal” can affect someone’s life.
The no quotation marks thing threw me off at first, but it wasn’t too bothersome
It was a sadder book than I anticipated. It got kind of redundant near the middle, with the constant miscommunication between the 2 main characters, but I enjoyed the ending.
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
desiderium_incarnate'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? No
3.75
Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol
kproc381'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
3.75
At first I was like… why would the author write it like that (if you know you know) and then when I got to understand the story more I realized that the lack of quotation marks that make you reread the paragraph makes you understand how miscommunication shows up in the book.
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Classism