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racbuckallew's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.25
mad that after everything we got a pandemic not a foursome
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
withlivjones's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
4.25
I absolutely adored the exploration of friendship in this novel, and I really liked the narration style - it feels quite distant and almost clinical, focusing less on the characters’ thoughts and feelings and more on how they express those feelings through their actions. I also loved the inclusion of the emails between Alice and Eileen. Again, Sally Rooney does a fantastic job of creating flawed, three-dimensional characters with deep and intricate relationships. It did take a while for me to get into the book, though, as it felt very slow-paced and the long paragraphs were quite difficult to follow at times. I know quite a few people take issue with the ending, and though the final two chapters weren’t strictly necessary, they were very sweet, and it’s not often that Sally Rooney gives us a happy ending to her stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
stephe's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
4.0
I WISH I knew millennials who wrote emails like this.
I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did, but I’m so glad my expectations were upended. Rooney writes with such generous, close observance, deftly threading the needle between ironic distance and saccharine melodrama. It’s not hard to care for the weirdos in this novel, even as they sometimes seem bent on their own crumbling. Also, as a person of faith, kind of fun to see some cool Christian representation—something almost as rare in the real world as it is in literary fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
emilinaballerina's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
Hooray! For once a Sally Rooney novel that didn’t have me in a puddle by the end! In all seriousness, this book was a beautiful coming of age story centered around four people grappling with how to relate to one another and the world they share. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these characters learn and grow from one another and found their journey to be very uplifting and encouraging to read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
mariabacterium's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
maddiechristine15's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
addisonpatrice's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.0
I've only read one other Rooney novel (Normal People), but it seems so far that she likes to reuse characters. The women are insecure and distant and deep, the men are good "deep down" and hopelessly in love with the woman. The relationships are harder than they need to be because no one fucking communicates. Overall this book was okay. Not quite at the same level as Normal People, but maybe that's just because I read that one first. I did love the exploration of Alice's health issues and the ways she thought about them. It was refreshing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness
rbrown's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content
theothergrl's review against another edition
reflective
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
4.5
Sally Rooney's characters are nothing if not realistic. I felt I was reading about the people in my own life, about the actual stories of ordinary folk. These aren't love stories that swell the heart with big gestures and serendipitous circumstances that have one believing in the miracles of romance. But they are real. The end game is flawed, the relationships are messy, not in the dramatic sense, but ordinarily so. Sally Rooney writes, with good understanding, about the socio-economic factors that play into our interpersonal lives. How class differences can forge oceans between us, how power dynamics in age gaps can be so easy to fall into and so hard to crawl out of. I found it smart, the way she wrote in third person, as an observer, because it really instated the reality of such things. That most of the time they aren't overcome. That, at the end of the day, these are just the normal people we see at the supermarket or catching a train. I appreciated that the most when I finished the book. I felt like I was being told that it's going to be okay, that even though I can't overcome everything, there is still beauty to be found amongst it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Drug use, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
lexa's review against another edition
4.25
This book took a bit of time for me to get into… and then I was hooked. Drawn in my the drama and screwed up characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual content