Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

185 reviews

swagkermit's review against another edition

reflective 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

2.25

Guys, I didn't like this one. Sorry to the thousands of fans. To be fair, I set my expectations pretty high by thinking it would be like a combination of When Harry Met Sally and the Before Trilogy. 

I've heard rave reviews about Sally Rooney's books both online and in-person, and I thought one of her strengths was crafting realistic characters. Unfortunately for me, I did not realise that 'realistic and flawed' is synonymous with 'unlikeable'. I simply did not like either of these people at all and did not care for them, they fell rather flat. 

Most of my criticisms of these characters were brought up in the book (namely Helen calling Marianne self-absorbed) and Rooney attempts to refute this by saying that Marianne genuinely cares about world politics and it's not attention-seeking (as Helen believes). I do not believe that it is attention seeking, but it does seem that Marianne gets a kick out of feeling superior to other people (especially when her History teacher gets his comeuppance for daring to try and teach her history, as if she could learn anything from him). This trait lessens a bit as the book goes on

and morphs into something darker, but at that point I didn't care enough for her to worry about the turn her life was taking.

I found the writing was fine and there were some particularly quotable passages, but I didn't have any kind of emotional response to anything that happened (apart from maybe the first 'break-up' situation). 

I thought that there were some good social observations in this book, my favourite being the scholarships and the discussion between Connell and Marianne about the significance to each of them. 

Overall I felt like I was living in a bubble of only them, and they were both living in that bubble as well. People drifted in and out of their lives - friends, relationships - but they didn't seem to actually like any of these people and were just passing time until they  collided again. Apparently no one understands them like each other, yet it seems they must be desperate for a relationship with anyone because they go running into one with whoever their friend recommends as their next partner with no regard to their own feelings. Is this how people are actually living these days?

I felt like I was missing something key about this relationship and did not find their story memorable at all. That said, I think I will try to watch the series to see if observing real people acting out these events makes them seem 'raw' and 'realistic'. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

selimhannah's review against another edition

dark emotional 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

ryanbada's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

lisdahl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

nora_knight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is so... much. It ebbs and flows through Marianne and Connell's complicated relationship, displaying their desire to connect with each other but also their inability to stay together. This novel feels very raw, and somehow both like a universal experience and something very foreign. Sally Rooney had some beautiful prose and I thought the lack of quotation marks was a very unique choice that I didn't mind. I definitely felt a little weird about parts of Marianne and Connell's relationship that were informed by Marianne's

abuse, as I can't relate to that and have no idea if it's portrayed accurately. I think that Rooney handled the complicated themes of mental illness and abuse pretty well considering how confused both Marianne and Connell were by these topics at times. However, again since I have not experienced these things, I would listen to people who do have firsthand experience with this to see if it is handled correctly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Classism

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

jasminealizae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I appreciate the perspective and insight this book brought me. 

Some of which I could genuinely and organically connect with. Despite miscommunication, which I hate, being one of the main themes in this book, if not a "trope", I really felt like it was approached realistically. I liked the growth of the characters in regards to their bad habits and their ability to overcome depression and feeling like they are worthless and just take up space in the world. Though, the fact that there wasn't a HEA is upsetting, but I get it and really kind of enjoyed that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pinings's review against another edition

emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my first book I’ve read by Rooney and I have a feeling it won’t be the last! Incredible read, I read it in a day, I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read more of Rooney’s works.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

abioneil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.25

This book is quite complex. The relationship that Connel and Marianne have is painful to read about. Don’t go into this thinking it will end with sunshine and rainbows. It is obvious that both characters needed serious help. Other than that, I would say that the narrating style was a bit odd, the narrator was third person and at times seemed to be limited and other times omniscient. I didn’t quite enjoy the book, the idea that relationships between people can change their overal character and personality is explored wonderfully, however, it does feel like some of the scenes central ideas are repeated (even though this may have advanced the plot, it was hard to read). I think that the character growth felt sudden instead of gradual buildup.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

gailsage_thomps's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Islamophobia and Pregnancy