Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Normal People

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

24 reviews

jasminealizae's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

jenniferb147's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

This is a beautifully written book about horrible horrible people who do not deserve to be happy or your attention to not read it

Content Warnings

gabrielleclarke05's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

5.0

“I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me”. Crying and throwing up

I related to Connell too much 👩🏻‍🦯👩🏻‍🦯.I don’t have one negative thing to say about this book, obviously there’s the whole quotation dialogue thing but I didn’t mind it after the first bit. I love Connell so much. The story is just a deep character study on how relationships are affected through simple communications and the drastic changes it can cause in life. The title is literally the plot like it is just about normal people doing everyday things with a lack of communication due to trauma and how things can end up

Content Warnings

caitatkinson_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.75

(adjusted from 2.375 [rounded down to 2.25] to 2.75)

ugghhh. i went into this really wanting to like it, but it was just not for me. that's partly my fault. i had decided to take a hiatus from reading The Song of Achilles because i knew it had a tragic ending and i'm not in the best mental state rn and wanted something uplifting, when i discovered both the ebook and audiobook of Normal People immediately available to borrow on Libby. don't know what i was thinking to not check the moods and content warnings if i wanted something lighthearted—that's literally what storygraph is for, totally on me.

in a word, this book was upsetting. i've heard someone (specifically, booktuber emmie) describe reading The Goldfinch (haven't read it myself) as having a kind of second-hand depression effect, and i understand it now because Normal People had this very effect on me. three particularly disturbing scenes come to mind:

Connell's former economics teacher attempting to sexually assault him

Marianne's entire relationship with Lukas

, and

the otherwise-nondescript scene ~88% through when Connell and Marianne have sex for the first time since their first year in college

. this latter scene was the worst of the bunch for me because both characters felt so hollow—not in their characterization (Sally Rooney could never), but in their mental states. it's like they're both desperately grasping at something to give them a sense of fulfillment, but their desperation is so painfully undisguised that i found it genuinely depressing. from the very beginning there's a vague sense that the two will end up together in the end, so for it to amount to (at the time) this bleak scene makes their love seem more like inevitability, futility, rather than meant-to-be. the ending doesn't do much to dispel this pervasive hopelessness. of course, this isn't an inherent downfall of the book, Sally Rooney is allowed to write a modern tragedy, it just very much wasn't for me, unfortunately.

with that main point out of the way, it was objectively well-written with lovely prose. i really liked its pacing, jumping forward in time but catching readers up with flashbacks. its general concept reminded me of The Namesake, following a character or characters across years of their life and focusing mainly on romantic relationships, and i prefer Normal People's execution over The Namesake's. 2⅜ stars

Content Warnings

kathrinellis's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

I honestly can’t decide whether this is a genius story or just mediocre. The characters are so detestable and toxic yet I feel like this depiction of growing up is (sadly) an accurate portrayal of the experience many young adults make, which makes this indeed “normal”. It’s a captivating story although not much is going on. I’m very excited to read more by Sally Rooney.

Content Warnings