Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

203 reviews

sophiehoggins's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Violence, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

kaneebli's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Suicide, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

madyoda's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

Moderate: Physical abuse, Body shaming, and Violence

smkelly1997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

I was anticipating good things from this book but was often left confused and wanting more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

nora_knight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is so... much. It ebbs and flows through Marianne and Connell's complicated relationship, displaying their desire to connect with each other but also their inability to stay together. This novel feels very raw, and somehow both like a universal experience and something very foreign. Sally Rooney had some beautiful prose and I thought the lack of quotation marks was a very unique choice that I didn't mind. I definitely felt a little weird about parts of Marianne and Connell's relationship that were informed by Marianne's

abuse, as I can't relate to that and have no idea if it's portrayed accurately. I think that Rooney handled the complicated themes of mental illness and abuse pretty well considering how confused both Marianne and Connell were by these topics at times. However, again since I have not experienced these things, I would listen to people who do have firsthand experience with this to see if it is handled correctly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: Classism

guivx5's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

2.25

 Normally, I would tinker with a few drafts of a review before posting one. But this book really left me tired, and I have a headache from finishing it. I've been trying to finish this for more than a week, and I think it has led me to a reading slump, so I'll just write anything to get over with it. God, this was tiresome to read.

I don't think I want to elaborate myself a lot on why I don't like this, I just don't. And after seeing that Rooney herself was a Trinity student, I get the question pounding in my head: is this based on reality? Like, really? People live their lives like this? Everything in this book bounces from exhausting to unnecessary to plainly stupid back to exhausting. Could this be realistic?

Honestly, I know the answer is yes... It's just so tiring to dive yourself into the way of thinking of these people, it's bizarre. Seriously. Straight cis (and neurotypical) people have some really weird ways of seeing life.

Anyway, I saw some people praising her writing style. It's nothing special, could've been a lot better if the story was anything more than confusing. A (very negative) highlight to Rooney attributing Marianne's masochism to her abusive family, I hope the BDSM community gets you for that. This book romanticizes so many things in such bizarre ways that I'll just leave some reviews here that I think elaborate better on the topics than I can do right now:

luce's review
Trudie's review

And then there was this short review from someone called Emilly (It had a video review linked, I was too bored to watch it), I just liked the first paragraph that was: "Whoever was responsible for the marketing of this book deserves a raise because they managed to make 600k+ people read this incredibly boring story."

God, I need some painkillers. My head hurts. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Grief, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

jasminealizae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I appreciate the perspective and insight this book brought me. 

Some of which I could genuinely and organically connect with. Despite miscommunication, which I hate, being one of the main themes in this book, if not a "trope", I really felt like it was approached realistically. I liked the growth of the characters in regards to their bad habits and their ability to overcome depression and feeling like they are worthless and just take up space in the world. Though, the fact that there wasn't a HEA is upsetting, but I get it and really kind of enjoyed that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

jja_b's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.5

Ok, while I don’t deny that Rooney is a very talented writer, I think this might have been a mismatch between me and her. I didn’t really know what to expect when going into it, but I probably should have guessed by the title that this would be a “normal” story. I don’t mean that in a critical way, and I’m not implying that it’s uninspired. “Normal” was obviously what Rooney was going for. I could look at a group of people I know and find a similar tale, This just wasn’t for me.

Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy the book at times. I found Connell quite a compelling character and I think the book can be described as a page-turner, but most of the characters were unlikeable and the miscommunication between Connell and Marianne just became too frustrating.

The ending infuriated me. I get the point, but it was still infuriating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Blood, and Bullying

queanh's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexism and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mary_juleyre's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Torture