Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Normal People

This book is extremely raw. It’s happy and light while heartbreaking and dark. I enjoyed the writing a lot. Rooney’s writing followed a pattern each chapter, but the premise of that pattern was still enjoyable. This makes you look deeply into your own relationships with others, and that is a powerful effect coming from a novel.

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tangylad's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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trix2021's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

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littlephoenix's review against another edition

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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

4.25

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ging090803's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-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

5.0

I had such expectations... I was always putting it "to later". I really shouldn't have. The writing is beautiful. Not only do we see their relationship growing, but also the characters themselves growing through the years. It is so interesting to see how we are so influenced by others and our past.
I really liked how it was written. There is not really any marks of dialogue, we change point of view rapidly, the past and the present are mixed together. Great metaphor here : the present is influence by the choices we made in the past. We are never free from our past.
Following them through the years was incredible. I didn't feel any gaps. It was just normal.
They were just normal people with rough stories.

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lydpinch's review against another edition

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emotional 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

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laurennbrackbill's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad

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

4.25

I heard raving reviews and read some terrible ones about this book, so I felt conflicted about reading it.

And then I found myself watching the TV show, which was amazing for me, but I could have seen so much sexual content. I found myself having to fast forward through a bit of the series, anyway, back to the book.

I wonder if watching the show first taints my perspective, but I think that the show is what drew me in and probably led me to enjoy the book more. Yet, it may have sparked some of what I didn't like in the book because I like some of the changes made in the show. I also think I would have been confused about the sequence of vents in the book had I not watched the show first.

I found aspects of both of the main characters to be very relatable. Clearly, they are not "normal people," but what are normal people? Everyone wants to be normal but being normal sucks. It gives people anxiety; it makes them shallow. It makes them place their self-worth in the wrong places. It can leave people feeling crazy when they don't fit the mold, which was one of the ideas I took away from the book.

<Not sure if this is a spoiler, but just in case, I think that also it's good to see how people may know each other well but still not understand each other. At first, I was so frustrated with how Connel and Marianne would always fall out and in! Most books aren't written like this, but I realized that this is close to many people's real experiences. Many people can't express what they feel, and many think they know what others feel. Connel thinks that Marianne doesn't care what other people think, sometimes that's true. But, she is only human. She does care. Sometimes, it's so hard to be with people we care about the most because, well, we care about them and what they think. We, at times, can be more relaxed around people that we don't care as much about because, well, we just don't care. And, this may be toxic, but it's reality. That doesn't mean it's the person you are supposed to be with, but it doesn't mean the feelings aren't real or that they are the only person for you. So at first, I was upset by the ending, but then I felt really empowered by it. I thought to myself, wow, they are really strong for that decision. That is why I think there was character development in this story, they grew together, but they don't depend on each other more for their happiness.>

As a lover of books and education, I was confronted with the idea in the book that some people like that only to inflate their self-worth basically. I felt ATTACKED (in a good way). There were many aspects of the book that made me question how I view myself, how I view others, and how what I experience translates into how I interact with others.

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