Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

80 reviews

anacoelho's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• 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

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Abortion

gabrielleclarke05's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me”. Crying and throwing up

I related to Connell too much 👩🏻‍🦯👩🏻‍🦯.I don’t have one negative thing to say about this book, obviously there’s the whole quotation dialogue thing but I didn’t mind it after the first bit. I love Connell so much. The story is just a deep character study on how relationships are affected through simple communications and the drastic changes it can cause in life. The title is literally the plot like it is just about normal people doing everyday things with a lack of communication due to trauma and how things can end up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

quinna_corinne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Great writing, offered insights into relationships that really resonated with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide

kaireading's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Such a lovely and thought-provoking book. Rooney’s writing style is beautiful: clear, bold and just shocking at times (as if, no one ever says that because it sounds so weird but the book somehow makes it sound quite mundane) but at the same time nonchalant. It flows so beautifully and it’s easy and satisfying to read. The characters in the book are very realistic and relatable, they are not idolized in any way, they just… exist. Sally describes them in a neutral way so that she encourages the readers to develop their own opinions. The book touches on many real-life topics and is overall a very pleasant and comforting read, because the heavier topics are presented in an easily digestible  way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

darbo's review against another edition

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

4.0

 What a book.

When I first started reading this on my own, back at the beginning of January 2022, I felt so strongly about it that I was physically unable to continue it. Some scenes and passages got me so aggravated, frustrated and excited that it was a genuine sensory overload for me; and I can't say whether that's positive or negative. I ended up asking my girlfriend to buddy-read this with me, which we did; and my lord, I don't even know where to begin.
No spoilers, but Lukas is a fucking d*ck - least likeable character, honestly - and so is Jamie and Marianne's brother, Alan; just not as much as Lukas, in my opinion.
The story itself is vividly painted and truly beautiful; such an expressionistic novel that's super relatable and real and just makes me respect Sally Rooney as an author. I do have to say that I did not, as some people did, I imagine, mind the ending. I thought it was very well done and fit the overall story, theme, situation and their relationship.
I will definitely be picking up Conversations with Friends, as that's being made into a show currently, as well, and Beautiful World, Where are You. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Alcohol

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.75

(adjusted from 2.375 [rounded down to 2.25] to 2.75)

ugghhh. i went into this really wanting to like it, but it was just not for me. that's partly my fault. i had decided to take a hiatus from reading The Song of Achilles because i knew it had a tragic ending and i'm not in the best mental state rn and wanted something uplifting, when i discovered both the ebook and audiobook of Normal People immediately available to borrow on Libby. don't know what i was thinking to not check the moods and content warnings if i wanted something lighthearted—that's literally what storygraph is for, totally on me.

in a word, this book was upsetting. i've heard someone (specifically, booktuber emmie) describe reading The Goldfinch (haven't read it myself) as having a kind of second-hand depression effect, and i understand it now because Normal People had this very effect on me. three particularly disturbing scenes come to mind:

Connell's former economics teacher attempting to sexually assault him

,

Marianne's entire relationship with Lukas

, and

the otherwise-nondescript scene ~88% through when Connell and Marianne have sex for the first time since their first year in college

. this latter scene was the worst of the bunch for me because both characters felt so hollow—not in their characterization (Sally Rooney could never), but in their mental states. it's like they're both desperately grasping at something to give them a sense of fulfillment, but their desperation is so painfully undisguised that i found it genuinely depressing. from the very beginning there's a vague sense that the two will end up together in the end, so for it to amount to (at the time) this bleak scene makes their love seem more like inevitability, futility, rather than meant-to-be. the ending doesn't do much to dispel this pervasive hopelessness. of course, this isn't an inherent downfall of the book, Sally Rooney is allowed to write a modern tragedy, it just very much wasn't for me, unfortunately.

with that main point out of the way, it was objectively well-written with lovely prose. i really liked its pacing, jumping forward in time but catching readers up with flashbacks. its general concept reminded me of The Namesake, following a character or characters across years of their life and focusing mainly on romantic relationships, and i prefer Normal People's execution over The Namesake's. 2⅜ stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War

thevieira'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Death of parent

francess_m's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

It’s taken me a while to decide the rating and even to decide how much I enjoyed it. But I think I really liked this! 

I enjoyed the writing style (with the dialogue written in a similar way to Sarah Hall), the dialogue takes a bit of getting used to but I quickly found that it flows with the narration really well. 

This is a dark and emotional book, equal parts relatable, frustrating and horrifying. It’s my first Rooney read and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more... after a few months recovery!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Sexual harassment

hannahelizza556's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was fantastic, it was modern, highlighted everyday sexism in the modern world that many women face and abuse in the family home. It discusses mental illness in young adults being deeply affected by what they have done in the past and how it could shape their future. The writing in Normal People is tender and emotional while also being a romance novel. 

This book is stylistically uncomplicated to read, hence my reading time of 4 days to complete this book. One feature I would note is that speech marks aren't used at all in dialogue. Paragraphs would begin with dialogue, with a third person narration and Rooney would inject a line of free indirect discourse. 

Overall this is a lovely book with a somewhat innocence to it in that first loves are explored, first time experiences and the uncomplicated way in which the book is written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism