Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

92 reviews

allouise's review

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challenging emotional medium-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

3.75


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pretentiousnerd's review

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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

1.75

Honestly was really appalled by the cover...But this book quite frankly disappointed me. Really had to force myself to read although it's only 266 pages long . The characters are insufferable and don't seem to ever stop whining about futile subjects. Also kind of disappointed by the ending that one took too long to come and two wasn't as dramatic and sad as it was described to me... It is bittersweet at best and I really am being nice here. Lorraine and Joanna are the only characters worth reading and even they can't save the book from being atrociously boring and almost pedant. Marianne really is the character that made me sigh the most-and there's a lot of them ... Kind of get why she was bullied because the "I'm not like other girls " kind of attitude was just idiotic and didn't make me feel like I was supposed to have empathy towards her. Quite the opposite actually.
Not gonna go on and on about this waste of time but yeah... don't read this book if you expect something extraordinary...

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elishahdavis's review

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3.0

okay, first, this book is very triggering. for like the first half it’s vaguely depressing, but then...
i usually don’t check content warnings because i find that i can handle a lot of it fine, and even if i had checked them, i honestly would’ve read it anyways. but i urge you, please check the content warnings and take them very seriously. also the list storygraph has when you first look is incredibly insufficient. it has the vast majority of the content warnings on their full list of them. so just be aware of that.

the ending was a relief, but i was still very uncomfortable when they mentioned certain parts of their relationship dynamic. the very ending, as in like the last page was good. she seemed stable, and it seemed right, especially considering their unhealthy and extreme co-dependence. i just— the way i felt reading this book? i never want to feel that again. i felt sick and awful and i can’t even describe it. it was very well written, and, surprisingly, i  liked the whole no quotation marks thing. i just felt like ive been falsely advertised to. how can this be someone’s favorite book? how could you recommend this to people that you like? i don’t get it. i think me and sally rooney are over, just because if her other books are like this one i will not be able to handle them. anyways i really do not know how to rate this. i saw some review that said after they were done reading they just thought “why? what was the point of that?” and it clicked for me. that’s exactly how i feel. i feel hurt and burdened in the worst possible way, wondering “why? that wasn’t worth it”. that’s the best way to summarize what i think of this book.

now off to read some ya romcom because this book is actually triggering me into depression, and i mean that literally, unfortunately.

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sophiehoggins's review against another edition

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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

4.5

makes you think that you should always say things because the things left unsaid can be the most important - so its a great book for making you change the way you live which is often a good sign. also left me wondering about the true nature of their relationship.

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leahhmorriss's review against another edition

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

3.0

Marianne and Connell were actually so infuriating throughout this entire book. I hate the miscommunication trope. I feel like their relationship was so toxic and they need to sort their own issues out and learn how to communicate before trying to love another person. Until the very last page they stressed me out. 
Individually, my heart broke for them both and the things they had to go through were horrible. I loved Marianne so much and I feel like I deeply related to her so many times. Connell went through so much too but I think he frustrated me more when it came to Marianne because he seemed to be the one who was more off again/on again. 
Fuck Alan, fuck that stupid teacher. 
Special shout out to Lorraine, she was the best character.
Also, Sally Rooney, why don’t you fucking use speech marks. It was so annoying. I didn’t really love the writing style of this book and it was confusing how it went between flashbacks and present time randomly; I had to keep rereading parts. 
I did enjoy this book overall and it was a great example of a real life relationship. I’m about to watch the TV show right now.

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ileesha's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-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

3.0

i shifted between 2.75 and 3 stars a lot while reading this i found the first few chapters when they were in high school almost unreadable but after i got through that, this book was more bearable i don’t think id ever go back to read it again but i enjoyed parts of it and read it all in one sitting 

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kaneebli's review

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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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holliesatchell's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense 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


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bookishlittleme's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

This was one of those books where I read it at just the right time. I picked it up at the library on a whim and everything! I really like the way that it made me think about the world, how we socialize, how we love. I found the two main characters, Marianne and Connell extremely true to life with distinct thoughts and voices. 
I have heard a lot of comments about Sally Rooney's writing being hard to read because she does not use quotations to help the reader recognize dialogue. Personally, I fell in love with her writing style as soon as I picked up the book. As for the dialogue it's definitely more feeling than reading a quotation mark that lets you know when someone is speaking. This is a very sad book but I think if you're drawn to it you should read it. Check the content warnings though!

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woosha's review

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

2.0

After much thought, I'm rating this book lower. It's not a bad book, I just feel like the characters could have been developed more? And the whole point of the story isn't very clear. My experience could have been worse due to reading a translated version though (bought the wrong one).

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