Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

87 reviews

pennym_'s review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

shannonxvx's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Torture, Bullying, Sexism, Racism, Blood, Body shaming, and Death

emilymai's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use

lilacsophie's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

sonygaystation's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

God, this book. Felt like an endless aching in my chest the entire time I was reading it. Sometimes a good aching, mostly a yearning aching. It can be hard to read about damaged people but I feel like this book pulls it off well because it's less about "how miserable two can damaged people be?", and more like "here are all the paths we take to be with the people we love." The audiobook narrator did a really lovely job and made the writing feel almost lyrical. The negative reviews on the content confuse me because Normal People feels so profoundly like an examination of the timing of loneliness and how self-loathing can really destroy your life, and it was done with really impressive introspection. The author did a really good job of examining how abuse can affect your relationships (in not so many words) and how bad we can be at seeing what's good for us even when it's right there for the taking. To me, it feels like one-star reviews just completely and utterly missed the point of this book, like they're judging the book on a macro lens instead of seeing it for the emotional supercut that it is. People paring it down to "rich socialite I can't relate to" or "I love you, I’m seeing someone else, I’m so sad, life is hard, being 20 is tough" just fundamentally lack the ability to be empathetic for others. I don't know. It really crept under my skin and made me feel kind of flayed open - Rooney's writing feels like she's staring directly at you and I liked at times how uncomfortable it made me. Mostly it made me feel a lot and that's all I ever really ask for in a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, and Drug use

Minor: Blood, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

hmatt's review

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

From what I've heard, there are stylistic choices in the writing that don't come across on the audiobook, so I can't say whether that would have impacted my thoughts on the book. I really enjoyed that the narrative focuses the most on the main characters' thoughts and responses to situations. It's very much NOT plot-driven, which I tend to prefer, but it's too short to get dull. Also, the characters are imperfect and this is acknowledged and addressed and very much the point, and I love them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Sexual violence

Minor: Toxic relationship and Grief

barelycompetent's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 This is the story of two people who circle each other their entire lives. It is tinged and tainted with sadness and bad communication. I can see how people like this book but it simply wasn't for me. I found the characters annoying and failed to be able to relate to them in a significant way. The whole time I hoped the characters would find a way to break out if their pattern but this book shows how set in our ways people are.

In short, it is not a bad book, it simply isn't what I want out of my fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

This is the story of two people who circle each other their entire lives. It is tinged and tainted with sadness and bad communication. I can see how people like this book but it simply wasn't for me. I found the characters annoying and failed to be able to relate to them in a significant way. The whole time I hoped the characters would find a way to break out if their pattern but this book shows how set in our ways people are. In short, it is not a bad book, it simply isn't what I want out of my fiction.