Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Normal People

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

893 reviews

ryan24watson'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? Yes

4.5

Sally Rooney wonderfully crafted two lead characters that hard to love, but even harder to not fall in love with. The #1 theme in this book is poor communication and jumping to conclusions, and though constant throughout the novel, it's kept fresh in ways that allows each situation to avoid feeling repetitive. I love the realistic role reversals as well - the well-liked high school student becoming the outcast and vice versa. Two fully fledged out, independent protagonists embody a realistic picture of young loving relationships between people who cannot seem to figure out how to properly express how they feel nor how to actively listen to their partner without making assumptions about their intentions.

The only reason I can't give Normal People a 5 star review is the graphic descriptions of the sex scenes. I typically lean toward more lyrical, less vulgar descriptions of sex in books. The main reason being, it's the only thing that would prevent me from putting a copy of this story into the hands of every young person I know. This reignited my passion for reading. Thank you queen Sally Rooney.

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feodora's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

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annasph's review against another edition

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sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

4.75

Really really good book that I finished faster than anything I tried to read in the past 5 years which have been a reading slump. I could not identify myself in the least bit with either character but it was a really good insight into other people? I cannot stress how much I loathed some of the things both of them (but particularly Marianne) thought and said, not from a moral highground (at least I hope so), but more of a really really exhausted spectators perspective.

What made me really uncomfortable was Mariannes constant need to submit herself to the men she has sex with. I can see how it is part of her characterization in the book, but I would have appreaciated a trigger warning these parts made me want to hurl my guts out. Again this does not make it bad, it is very very well written just very heavy material.

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kaylahcc's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-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

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semporina's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

Would only listen bc of the lack of quotation marks in the book. I actually liked normal people more

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_meganrose's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

I can see why this book can be so polarizing for people. It gave me a similar feel to ‘One Day’ and ‘Alone With You In The Ether,’ which are two of my favorites. It had the potential to be right up there with them, but just fell slightly short. This was very emotional and humanizing. The complexity of the characters and their dynamic had me hooked. My only two major critiques are: 1. I wish there were quotations around the dialogue - it was confusing sometimes and 2. the final chapter was a let down.

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lyeve's review against another edition

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lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

Normal People portrays very well how two people's lives can sometimes intertwine. Marianne and Connell have a messy relationship, with fights and breakups, but they always find eachother back. As friends or partners, or something in between.
The messiness feels real; somehow I didn't want to scream at them to talk it out like I usually do with romance books. I just understood. It was refreshing to see a young adult romance feel so realistic.

This books tackles with darker subjects and sexuality pretty well; none of them are the point of the book, but they are present and can be messy. May I even say...like in a normal person's life

Overall the book was a fast read and grasped my attention more than I thought. While it was not a fantastic read and the prose was not remarkable to me, I definitely appreciated the freshness of it.

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chantelsorae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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arxchiell's review against another edition

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emotional fast-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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rachellen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Admittedly I had watched the show multiple times before reading the book today, so I’d lacked the urgency to actually read it. I am so very glad I have now.

The show does follow the book but I found it so much more emotional as a whole to read the words said between Connell and Marianne. Particularly, when Marianne says ‘most people go through their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close to anyone’. Also - ‘Marianne, he said, I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.’

The reason as to why I love this story, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it or the writing, is because it is flawed. The characters are flawed through and through, constantly making their lives difficult because of the intrusion of their desires and emotions and hate. This is what it means to be a sentient human being. That is why I love this story.

I found the power play between the two characters incredibly multifaceted, it evolved constantly. Marianne belongs to a different social class with more money and her mother is her family’s cleaner which in turn funds Connell’s family home. Yet neither have fathers, they are not present or deceased, when they meet. On the other hand, Connell has power over Marianne, particularly in their school relationship, as Marianne is incredibly vulnerable and abused at home leading to insecurities where she is wanting to please Connell to (possibly) make him stay (the secret relationship, university conversations and so on). In school, Connell is popular, Marianne is not. In university, Marianne is popular and even gets Connell a job so he can pay rent, whilst Connell is not popular and works jobs. Marianne has a paid for flat with her own room and so on, Connell works to pay for a shared room in a house. When Marianne leaves home, she relies on Connell and his family, and is no longer wealthy, so they also both become equal (?) financially after they win scholarships, possibly bending more to Connell’s favour as he worked. The power play constantly changes, I believe it balances out in the end, yet the ending infers that there are more power imbalances/balances to occur.

When I found myself on the final page I felt panicked at Marianne’s coolness, particularly after a bicker between them, but when she ends with saying ‘I’ll always be here. You know that.’ - it was probably the most devoted, unprompted, purest thing that Marianne says to Connell in the entire book. It is a pledge.

I could go on for days. But I won’t bore readers of this review any longer.

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