Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

94 reviews

carleyhall's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

2.5

This isn’t a typical read for me and I found I didn’t much enjoy it. Marianne’s development felt very linear. Most of the novel was miserable and dull.

I’m choosing to believe they’ll reconnect after New York, after Marianne has worked on herself the way Connell did.

I didn’t find much of a reason to watch the Hulu series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Mental illness, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

haileyeden's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

Minor: Abortion

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, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

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

Minor: Drug use, Racism, and War

savannahrb's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Violence

Minor: Classism

danirc_'s review against another edition

i hate both of the mc and the conflict feels pretty pointless and immature honestly 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

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

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

remusritch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Miscommunication is overdone as a rule but it was done well here, this book felt authentic and beautiful. It could have been more fleshed out, sure, but also it's length didn't detract from the experience of reading this book. 

However, I do feel it was a little overhyped. It deserves the hype, but it's also a little pretentious (which I enjoyed, but some won't lol)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia and Racism

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

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

yeuniversse's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

liaandersson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

I had seen the tv show, loved it, so wanted to read the book because well yeah I love to read. I was happily surprised by the accuracy of the tv adaptation every time I read a scene or dialogue that sounded familiar. Some things were just read out loud from the book and I adore that accuracy, because it is fucking rare as all of us know by now. Anywho, strongly recommend this book if you like contemporary fiction. (Beware of triggering topics before reading)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Adult/minor relationship