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A review by guivx5
Pessoas normais by Sally Rooney
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Grief, Death, and Suicidal thoughts