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ssineaddreaddss's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.0
Entirely somber and real yet simultaneously disturbed and cruel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
aliviafaye's review against another edition
3.0
i hate the characters. he was a dick and she was just there. she never stood up for herself or left.
drridareads's review against another edition
3.0
Life is the thing you bring with you inside your own head.
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this book; I have so many different feelings and certain about this book that's it's not certain I suppose could write a 1 or even 5 starred review for this book; Idk where this one is going.
If I had to describe what this book is about I'd say it's about two people and their relationships but it's not really a romance. (see what I mean?)
So if the world is a jigsaw puzzle (a complicated one) we're looking at two pieces; Marianne and Connell and how they fit in; how their connected with each other and other people.
We start off with them in high school senior year and basically follow their lives for a few years. Marianne is an awkward person from the upper class and in school she has no friends and excels academically. Connel is from the working class; his mom works as a cleaning lady for Marianne's family and in school he's one of the most popular kids. In their few interactions when Connell comes to pick up his mom; they develop a secret relationship; one that Connel will not admit since he still wants to fit in. They both feel so connected to each other and yet want to pretend otherwise.
He dreads being left alone with her like this, but he also finds himself fantasising about things he could say to impress her
We see more of how much people's thoughts affect Connell when they go to university when we see that he has anxiety and depression. And he feels like Marianne is the only one that gets him. Marianne feels so deeply for him that She felt she would do anything to make him like her, to make him say out loud that he liked her . This unequal submissive dynamic which Connell even feels guilty for having that much power over is why they don't seem to be together for long period of time even though their like made for each other.
The reason I said this book was about relationships and not romance is because of all the types of interactions we see. Marianne has absolutely no friends in school; everyone just sees her as a weird kid. At home her only family is an older brother and mother both of whom are very abusive towards her. This could possibly be why she has such low self esteem; all her life she has been treated like shit and the one person who treats her a little better than shit she wants to submit to him. And when she's not with him but somebody else she prefers masochism. When she gets to university on the surface she has so many friends but really people just want to hang out and drink and gossip; truly she only made one friend.
And then there's Connell who has an understanding and amazing Mom. And uptil high school is super popular; but his behaviours are monitored by what he thinks other people think. He wants to fit in as normally as possible and for sometime he even gets a girlfriend he considers normal. He tried to fit in so bad that it messed with his mental health.
He was trapped by various considerations. He cared what people thought of him.
He goes to a university where most people are uber rich; people are nothing like him; and he's doing literature which is nothing like what his old friends are doing.
I also loved the commentary on social classes. Marianne and Connell come from opposite background and people like to say that doesn't matter when it's the one or something. But that is bullshit because it does in fact matter it does affect a relationship. A super rich and privileged person may pretend to care; may even actually care but the thing is what doesn't affect them just doesn't affect them. When Connell asks why they have bedrooms empty when they could rent them she just doesn't get it why would he even be thinking about this and just shrugs it off as it's something to do with capitalism. When Connell borrows money from her; he returns it when he can; she says he didn't have to; but he did have to; for her it's nothing but for him he doesn't want to owe her. And there are people who talk like they know but don't want to be political. I don't know at least that's how I felt about it. There's also this amazing commentary on literature and social class which is so on point.
It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about.
This tumblr post reminded me of this
The issues I had:
the writing style there is whole review on how she cannot decide the narrating voice she wants to use.
those quotation markless dialogues
the underwhelming ending
the unresolved issue between the unequal power dynamic their relationship had
the mysterious reason Marianne's family hated her so much; were they just toxic abusive assholes; or were they toxic abusive assholes after something (not that that excuses anything that's why I still called them asshole toxic).
It was very boring at times.
This book was frustrating but also so addictive.
In the start I thought this book was gonna be about pretentious teenagers who read stuff nobody does and talk like 4o year olds. Thankfully it wasn't.
I basically just saw the trailer for the new hulu series that's about to come and decided it was time to finally review this book. The characters do not look like I had imagined and also they look older. It seems like a romance which this book is on surface level but it's more than that. So I don't know but fingers crossed.
We try so hard to fit into this concept of normal people but what the fuck are normal people. We're normal people and we are all weird and some of us have anxiety and some of us have absolutely crazy thoughts. Normal people don't live crazy dramatic lives like in most books and movies; most of our lives plot is pretty static like this book. We go to school; we go to college; we fall in love; we fall out of love. We don't all feel like we fit in; but most of us do and sometimes it's just in our head.
This book reminds me of Lorde - Perfect Places
I'm still not sure how to rate this book; I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea. I guess 3 stars!
________________________________________
When the GR Choice Awards 2019 nominees came out I chose to read a book from a few genres.
Fantasy: Middlegame
Science Fiction: Recursion
Fiction: Normal People
Mystery and Thriller: My Sister, the Serial Killer
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this book; I have so many different feelings and certain about this book that's it's not certain I suppose could write a 1 or even 5 starred review for this book; Idk where this one is going.
If I had to describe what this book is about I'd say it's about two people and their relationships but it's not really a romance. (see what I mean?)
So if the world is a jigsaw puzzle (a complicated one) we're looking at two pieces; Marianne and Connell and how they fit in; how their connected with each other and other people.
We start off with them in high school senior year and basically follow their lives for a few years. Marianne is an awkward person from the upper class and in school she has no friends and excels academically. Connel is from the working class; his mom works as a cleaning lady for Marianne's family and in school he's one of the most popular kids. In their few interactions when Connell comes to pick up his mom; they develop a secret relationship; one that Connel will not admit since he still wants to fit in. They both feel so connected to each other and yet want to pretend otherwise.
He dreads being left alone with her like this, but he also finds himself fantasising about things he could say to impress her
We see more of how much people's thoughts affect Connell when they go to university when we see that he has anxiety and depression. And he feels like Marianne is the only one that gets him. Marianne feels so deeply for him that She felt she would do anything to make him like her, to make him say out loud that he liked her . This unequal submissive dynamic which Connell even feels guilty for having that much power over is why they don't seem to be together for long period of time even though their like made for each other.
The reason I said this book was about relationships and not romance is because of all the types of interactions we see. Marianne has absolutely no friends in school; everyone just sees her as a weird kid. At home her only family is an older brother and mother both of whom are very abusive towards her. This could possibly be why she has such low self esteem; all her life she has been treated like shit and the one person who treats her a little better than shit she wants to submit to him. And when she's not with him but somebody else she prefers masochism. When she gets to university on the surface she has so many friends but really people just want to hang out and drink and gossip; truly she only made one friend.
And then there's Connell who has an understanding and amazing Mom. And uptil high school is super popular; but his behaviours are monitored by what he thinks other people think. He wants to fit in as normally as possible and for sometime he even gets a girlfriend he considers normal. He tried to fit in so bad that it messed with his mental health.
He was trapped by various considerations. He cared what people thought of him.
He goes to a university where most people are uber rich; people are nothing like him; and he's doing literature which is nothing like what his old friends are doing.
I also loved the commentary on social classes. Marianne and Connell come from opposite background and people like to say that doesn't matter when it's the one or something. But that is bullshit because it does in fact matter it does affect a relationship. A super rich and privileged person may pretend to care; may even actually care but the thing is what doesn't affect them just doesn't affect them. When Connell asks why they have bedrooms empty when they could rent them she just doesn't get it why would he even be thinking about this and just shrugs it off as it's something to do with capitalism. When Connell borrows money from her; he returns it when he can; she says he didn't have to; but he did have to; for her it's nothing but for him he doesn't want to owe her. And there are people who talk like they know but don't want to be political. I don't know at least that's how I felt about it. There's also this amazing commentary on literature and social class which is so on point.
It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about.
This tumblr post reminded me of this
The issues I had:
the writing style there is whole review on how she cannot decide the narrating voice she wants to use.
those quotation markless dialogues
the underwhelming ending
the unresolved issue between the unequal power dynamic their relationship had
the mysterious reason Marianne's family hated her so much; were they just toxic abusive assholes; or were they toxic abusive assholes after something (not that that excuses anything that's why I still called them asshole toxic).
It was very boring at times.
This book was frustrating but also so addictive.
In the start I thought this book was gonna be about pretentious teenagers who read stuff nobody does and talk like 4o year olds. Thankfully it wasn't.
I basically just saw the trailer for the new hulu series that's about to come and decided it was time to finally review this book. The characters do not look like I had imagined and also they look older. It seems like a romance which this book is on surface level but it's more than that. So I don't know but fingers crossed.
We try so hard to fit into this concept of normal people but what the fuck are normal people. We're normal people and we are all weird and some of us have anxiety and some of us have absolutely crazy thoughts. Normal people don't live crazy dramatic lives like in most books and movies; most of our lives plot is pretty static like this book. We go to school; we go to college; we fall in love; we fall out of love. We don't all feel like we fit in; but most of us do and sometimes it's just in our head.
This book reminds me of Lorde - Perfect Places
I'm still not sure how to rate this book; I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea. I guess 3 stars!
________________________________________
When the GR Choice Awards 2019 nominees came out I chose to read a book from a few genres.
Fantasy: Middlegame
Science Fiction: Recursion
Fiction: Normal People
Mystery and Thriller: My Sister, the Serial Killer
bookish_clf'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
3.75
karishma10's review against another edition
sad
slow-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
a_hale's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
hannahloves2read14's review against another edition
5.0
this sucked the soul out of me, oh my fucking god.