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estelleidekreads's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
read the trigger warnings ppl!
honestly i was not really expecting to like this but i did. it does what it says on the tin - just feels very real. i liked that the book is called normal people and yet the MCs wish they were normal as they feel other bc that’s just it - there’s no such thing as “normal”.
i do this the depiction of BDSM is quite problematic like !!! safe words !!! pls !!!i do think it would have been more powerful to have C & M end up engaging in properly safe & actually consensual BDSM at the end vs going from abuse disguised as BDSM to “vanilla” sex. but then again i also think Rooney was very clever when she hinted that C might actually want to be dominant in that way (can’t remember where or what exactly he thinks but it’s the bit where he’s like “i could hit her holy shit”) and then ar the end he’s seemingly the “good guy”. i should really go back and check my kindle highlights but i’ve got shingles and feel like shite so that’ll have to be good enough 😂
i thought the mental illness bits were very realistic, including the fact that M’s ED is never really addressed and seemingly flies under the radar other than a couple comments about her being very thin these days.
the ending makes sense because:
a. life’s events are rarely neatly tied off with little bows. shit happens & keeps going until we die. in this sense it’s very realistic
b. it just makes sense with their character development. i wouldn’t have believed a HEA with where they’re at in their lives they’ve just got so much unhealed trauma & unresolved issues. and yes they've grown but not enough to break the perpetual cycle they’ve been stuck in.
but i absolutely hated it. i’m an open ending hater to my core and it was just SO annoying! these kids need so much therapy and honestly idc what people say, they’re toxic together. ITS NOT HEALTHY!!!
i reckon this is one of these books that’ll just stay with me which is defo props to the author. still mad about the lack of quotation marks tho
honestly i was not really expecting to like this but i did. it does what it says on the tin - just feels very real. i liked that the book is called normal people and yet the MCs wish they were normal as they feel other bc that’s just it - there’s no such thing as “normal”.
i do this the depiction of BDSM is quite problematic like !!! safe words !!! pls !!!
i thought the mental illness bits were very realistic, including the fact that M’s ED is never really addressed and seemingly flies under the radar other than a couple comments about her being very thin these days.
a. life’s events are rarely neatly tied off with little bows. shit happens & keeps going until we die. in this sense it’s very realistic
b. it just makes sense with their character development. i wouldn’t have believed a HEA with where they’re at in their lives they’ve just got so much unhealed trauma & unresolved issues. and yes they've grown but not enough to break the perpetual cycle they’ve been stuck in.
but i absolutely hated it. i’m an open ending hater to my core and it was just SO annoying! these kids need so much therapy and honestly idc what people say, they’re toxic together. ITS NOT HEALTHY!!!
i reckon this is one of these books that’ll just stay with me which is defo props to the author. still mad about the lack of quotation marks tho
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Child abuse, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
minor TW for a predatory teacher flirting with a 17/18 year old also a lot of dubconjazzuar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol
jesse_z'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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence
annaabis's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
Easy read, makes you feel kinda sad for the characters but also very nicely written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
moonie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I need to know if they are still together after NY please .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Eating disorder
ahubitsky's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
if sally rooney is a leftist, and this book is imbued with marxist themes, i’m a reactionary conservative
this was genuinely really bad on multiple fronts. the most glaring problems are the stunning lack of character development, you’d think with several years of education and life under both marianne and connell’s belts by the end of the story they would’ve changed at least in some regard, but neither of them did. further, i fail to see how the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of a woman makes a compelling plotline, because make no mistake, this plot is purely abuse porn. it’s astounding the lack of agency that marianne has (willingly!). her rich background just makes her come off as a whiny bitch who can’t experience hardship in any way other than by inflicting it on herself, so she does, and in the process convinces herself shes oh so horrible.
not to mention (going back to the alleged “marxist themes”) in this book, it’s extremely interesting how this work is supposed to be marxist, but marianne LITERALLY commodifies herself as a piece of property to be transferred among owners. im pretty sure that commodification of property is something marxists are inherently against? seems like rooney either forgot the marx she read, or just proclaims herself a marxist to the media to give her work the flavor of quirkiness.
the synopsis on the back is also pretty bold, describing the book as a journey of “love and friendship,” when it’s really just a pornographic journey through self-deprecation by a girl who can’t help but act like a craigslist item to be transferred between abusers.
strongly recommend looking up trigger warnings, but even more i recommend avoiding this book altogether.
this was genuinely really bad on multiple fronts. the most glaring problems are the stunning lack of character development, you’d think with several years of education and life under both marianne and connell’s belts by the end of the story they would’ve changed at least in some regard, but neither of them did. further, i fail to see how the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of a woman makes a compelling plotline, because make no mistake, this plot is purely abuse porn. it’s astounding the lack of agency that marianne has (willingly!). her rich background just makes her come off as a whiny bitch who can’t experience hardship in any way other than by inflicting it on herself, so she does, and in the process convinces herself shes oh so horrible.
not to mention (going back to the alleged “marxist themes”) in this book, it’s extremely interesting how this work is supposed to be marxist, but marianne LITERALLY commodifies herself as a piece of property to be transferred among owners. im pretty sure that commodification of property is something marxists are inherently against? seems like rooney either forgot the marx she read, or just proclaims herself a marxist to the media to give her work the flavor of quirkiness.
the synopsis on the back is also pretty bold, describing the book as a journey of “love and friendship,” when it’s really just a pornographic journey through self-deprecation by a girl who can’t help but act like a craigslist item to be transferred between abusers.
strongly recommend looking up trigger warnings, but even more i recommend avoiding this book altogether.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship
littlehedgehog's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
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
1.25
This was a fairly underwhelming read for a book that contains 7 pages of reviews. I don't really know where this book was "thrilling", "brilliant" "tender", "moving", "sexy" or "intricate". However I do know that I just read a book that is about a boy, Connell, and a girl, Marianne, who have an off/on situationship going for YEARS where he dumps her every three months bc he is a piece of shit, they get together again, and the cycle repeats. Marianne lets him do this because she had a hard upbringing and has therefore never learned to preserve an ounce of self-respect. (Spieler alert: they are both insufferable.) Also she is somehow both beautiful, sexy and charming and unbelievably ugly at the same time cause she's not like other girls. All of this is written by an author who thinks it's trendy to not use quotation marks in dialogue.
Not to mention that this book deals with sex in the most awkward and also annoying way I have ever seen. Like how do you manage to come up with so many bizarre situations related to sex?? This book tries so hard to be edgy and awkward, it's eye-wateringly cringy and, oftentimes, horrid. Fascinating, but in an awful way.
Also, everything related to sexual assault/sexual trauma was treated badly. very, very badly. Want an example?
When Marianne (now a woman, presumably in her mid-twenties) is once again confronted with her abusive brother, she thinks about the way his abuse affected her life as well as herself: "She tries to be a good person. But deep down she knows she is a bad person, corrupted, wrong, and all her efforts to be right, to have the right opinions, to say the right things, these efforts only disguise what is buried deep inside of her, the evil part of herself".
15-year-old me would have loved that and then promptly went to off herself. What the fuck. Marianne is definitely old enough to have seen a therapist at this point, or at least develop SOME kind of coping strategies, but hey, that's one way to profit off angsty audiences. Great book, great message. What in the fucking co-dependency is this mess.
Not to mention that this book deals with sex in the most awkward and also annoying way I have ever seen. Like how do you manage to come up with so many bizarre situations related to sex?? This book tries so hard to be edgy and awkward, it's eye-wateringly cringy and, oftentimes, horrid. Fascinating, but in an awful way.
Also, everything related to sexual assault/sexual trauma was treated badly. very, very badly. Want an example?
When Marianne (now a woman, presumably in her mid-twenties) is once again confronted with her abusive brother, she thinks about the way his abuse affected her life as well as herself: "She tries to be a good person. But deep down she knows she is a bad person, corrupted, wrong, and all her efforts to be right, to have the right opinions, to say the right things, these efforts only disguise what is buried deep inside of her, the evil part of herself".
15-year-old me would have loved that and then promptly went to off herself. What the fuck. Marianne is definitely old enough to have seen a therapist at this point, or at least develop SOME kind of coping strategies, but hey, that's one way to profit off angsty audiences. Great book, great message. What in the fucking co-dependency is this mess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
amzmeisterr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
2.75
If you liked The Marriage Plot, try this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Alcohol
waytoomanybooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
3.0
Rooney is such a good writer, and I love her style! I just wish the ending wasn’t so ambiguous and abrupt, and I wish I had gotten to see Marianne blossom at least as much as Connell since the book was supposed to be about the both of them growing up, growing apart, finding each other again, etc. But it was pretty much all about Connell and then sometimes Rooney remembered that Marianne has thoughts and feelings, too.
Marianne and Connell’s relationship is so fascinating though. It is so incredibly toxic, yet they clearly belong together at the same time. I think that their relationship is realistically portrayed, and I could sympathize with one or the other of them at different stages in their lives and their relationship. I think that is a testament to Rooney’s writing: feeling like I want/need to evaluate the characters, to pick a side, and to sympathize and empathize with them and why.
However, I hated the ending. Ambiguous endings infuriate me, especially when the ambiguity suggests what it suggests here. We’re really ending withMarianne staking her worth on her on-again, off-again boyfriend and putting him above her and “letting him go” so he can, what? Some bullshit about how she’s a springboard from which his life can “truly begin” ?
Before I read the last ⅓ of the book, I was expecting to give it a 4 out of 5, but seeing Marianne’s storyline and the ending get fumbled leads me to give it a 3 out of 5.
Marianne and Connell’s relationship is so fascinating though. It is so incredibly toxic, yet they clearly belong together at the same time. I think that their relationship is realistically portrayed, and I could sympathize with one or the other of them at different stages in their lives and their relationship. I think that is a testament to Rooney’s writing: feeling like I want/need to evaluate the characters, to pick a side, and to sympathize and empathize with them and why.
However, I hated the ending. Ambiguous endings infuriate me, especially when the ambiguity suggests what it suggests here. We’re really ending with
Before I read the last ⅓ of the book, I was expecting to give it a 4 out of 5, but seeing Marianne’s storyline and the ending get fumbled leads me to give it a 3 out of 5.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
kaimekolreads's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence