Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

182 reviews

stupidforcupid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Eating disorder and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fatphobia, Abortion, and Pregnancy

leoniefnk's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, and Gaslighting

fantabuleuxse's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders

decie's review against another edition

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

2.0

this book isn't packaged as a romance novel -- and it doesnt neatly fit into the genre -- but there's nothing else to call it. the entire plot is just moving through an on-again-off-again situationship, and there's absolutely no depth to anything. it feels like traumatic things are occasionally  sprinkled on top of the flat premise in an attempt to add something, but they just fall flat as well. nothing happens in this book, the dialogue feels stiff and inauthentic, and everything is extremely surface level. to its credit, it was short and breezy and I finished 95% of it in one sitting. my rating would have been much lower otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

chaoticweevil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Racism, and War

james1star's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

What a truly exceptional and captivating read. Normal People was honestly so difficult to put down, what a page turner. The novel follows the relationship between Connell and Marianne through their last year of school and university. Despite having an attraction and pull to each other at the beginning, their story is bumpy to say the least. Sometimes you just want to get inside the pages and shake them, scream at them to go for it and talk to each other. It really is so emotive. 

After enjoying Rooney’s previous work ‘Conversations With Friends’, my friend said I might not like Normal People as most people apparently don’t like them both and I am so thankful for this revelation. Because I LOVED IT. My expectations were blown away. This book is just so well written with the two main characters - albeit flawed - being very likeable and you do really want what’s best for them… hint it’s for them to be together. The writing style is amazing, vivid depictions of believable situations and so relatable. As a 22 year old, I can totally see the same themes in everyday life and particularly taking the point that we really shouldn’t care/worry about what other people think of us - especially in school - because it means we don’t do what we really wanted to, we miss out, it affects our lives in possibly profound ways. 

The book draws on many topics like classism, (toxic) relationships, mental health, sex, and more. I specifically liked how Rooney takes a refreshing approach by swapping the usual experiences for the male and female characters. Connell is shown to deal with mental health, his emotions and feelings are thoroughly explored, he is shown to care deeply about what people are thinking about him, his class and upbringing is discussed, struggles with toxic masculinity and male suicide, adult-minor relationships and sexual assault on men, and yes this is handled extremely well. Additionally, the sex elements are predominantly from Marianne’s point of view as such. I mean that her pleasure and desires are the main reason for the sex acts between them with little discussion on his enjoyment/needs. There are nuances and most of the topics are related to both (and peripheral) characters, so yes, a very refreshing and different take on these topics. 

Normal People is such an amazing read, I really really enjoyed it so I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s an easy read and very accessible to many people. I’d especially recommend it to those around Connell and Marianne’s age (early 20s) as it can seem very relatable but also those younger and I tell you now: take the opportunities that come your way, don’t let them go out of fear of embarrassment or what people think, it’s your life not theirs and go live it x 

PS: Connell is so so cute!! Like oh my god I loved him so much, obviously he had flaws (who doesn’t??) but he was just such a lovely character. Put my faith back in straight men to be honest that they can be decent human beings. So well written I could literally write on and on about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

emilyreads_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

scandinavian_queen's review against another edition

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Abandonment

jen1804's review against another edition

reflective sad 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

3.5

I enjoyed Sally Rooney’s writing style but wasn’t too won over by the storyline of this book as a whole. It was kind of a take on young people navigating school and uni and social judgement and mental health and familial difficulties and what it is to be figuring out your sexual preferences but I didn’t find it relatable and found the whole thing a bit odd at times which I’m guessing is kind of the point. It was okay.
Satisfactory ending? Not really.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

ienbdri's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail