Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

182 reviews

jfield351's review against another edition

dark lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-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

3.0

This was a good book. I usually don’t like books with no plot, but this one was okay. However, what is with the lack of quotation marks???????? It made it very hard to read sometimes. It’s also written partly in present tense which I don’t read a lot of so that was interesting. The story was interesting and sad and just depicts growing up. It was well written (apart from the quotation marks - i know it was a stylistic choice but i didn’t like it) and dived into some interesting concepts about what it means to be a normal person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

amehlia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.0

“Sometimes in the middle of the day she remembers something Jamie has said or done to her, and all her energy leaves her completely, so her body feels like a carcass, something immensely heavy and awful that she has to carry around.”

After reading and enjoying Conversations With Friends I was excited to read Sally Rooney’s most well-known book, Normal People, after hearing so many good things about it and the TV show. Overall, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Conversations With Friends which I felt like had a more interesting plot and more interesting characters. To be fair, I suppose Normal People is exactly what it says on the tin, a book about a couple of normal people living a pretty normal life so, realistically, how interesting can it be? 

I think the perceived beauty of this book lies in the subtle interactions and miscommunications mostly between Marianne and Connell but I didn’t find this aspect to be particularly thought-provoking or intriguing. Lots of their interactions felt forced and for most of the book I was left wondering why these two characters are so attached to one another at all. Their relationship doesn’t seem to make much sense, they repeatedly comment on how they’re best friends but where does that friendship even come from? Rooney emphasises Marianne was not well-liked in school, they didn’t talk in school, and the only time they seem to spend together is in order to sleep together. To me, their friendship didn’t feel convincing at all. 

There are some parts of the book that also seem very random and erroneous, like when Marianne is in Sweden. This feels like a very strange way to explore Marianne’s frame of mind at the time. I think this could have been more useful if it didn’t feel so rushed, this chapter sort of feels like it could have been summed up in one sentence: “Marianne has been living in Sweden with this horrible guy Lukas who treats her terribly because she feels like she deserves it, but she’s had enough now and is coming back to Ireland.” That’s the whole chapter. 

The style of the book is interesting, I haven’t read many books that use snippets of time as chapters and explicitly state the gaps between them. I think this allowed Rooney to fit a lot more content into the book in fewer pages, allowing the reader to see a wider view of Marianne and Connell’s entangled life, but I feel like it made it difficult to connect with the characters more deeply and generally gave a rushed feel to the book. Everything sort of seemed to happen so quickly. Also, the lack of quotation marks, which was also present in Conversations with Friends, is slightly annoying in places. You sometimes have to re-read passages to understand what exactly was said, and I’ve seen people claim this is Rooney’s intention; to blur the lines between what’s said and left unsaid to mirror the miscommunications between Marianne and Connell. Sure, that’s an interesting technique, but I feel like this could have been achieved in other ways. Also, this doesn’t explain why she never uses quotation marks in any of her books, unless they’re all about miscommunication I suppose. I feel like the lack of quotation marks made more sense from a 1st-person perspective because it directly contrasted speech and thoughts, but with a 3rd-person perspective it doesn’t work as well. 

There were some excerpts from the book I liked, like the one quoted above. I think Rooney has a nice writing style and is able to capture certain emotions very well. She was able to keep me invested in Marianne and Connell’s story, and I actually kind of liked the ending of the book. I think that the fact that they didn’t ‘learn anything’ after all that time is actually an interesting way to end their story for now. They definitely did learn a lot though, just never how to use what they had learned. 

So overall, a kind of disappointing read after Rooney’s debut, but still interesting in places and underpinned by a great writing style.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely devoured this book. All of the hype and praise did not prepare me for just how good it was going to be.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Blood

kia_y_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

vikiisamused's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

tonihdd3's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

hannibanani29's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

maggieed'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

maia_cat's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

begentile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"Todos esses anos eles foram como duas plantinhas, dividindo o mesmo pedaço de terra, crescendo um ao redor do outro, se contorcendo pra criar espaço, tomando certas atitudes improváveis."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria