Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

153 reviews

sandysmith's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

I liked this book, but I found the lack of punctuation annoying and at times confusing, mainly concerning whether they were talking to each other or whether they are analysing what each other has said. The main characters are Marianne and Connell and their relationship,  at times i wanted to shout at them just talk to each other.  I felt the ending was unsatisfactory. But the book was beautifully written and it certainly wasn't a DNF and even if the plot didn't go anywhere you just wanted and were compelled to keep reading. A thought provoking read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Drug use, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

pretentiousnerd's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Violence, Eating disorder, Injury/injury detail, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use

sierrabedwell's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

2.0

I read this book mainly on recommendation from two people and from the reviews I’ve seen online. Honestly, I did not like it. It reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, which I also did not like. There was no plot other than two people that kept coming back to each other, and

Spoiler

they didn’t even end up together??

. The entire story seemed pointless. I hate these kinds of books that have no plot. I also hate that they have some deeper meaning that I have to decipher. It’s like someone majored in psychology, and then wrote a book about two made up people. If someone can explain to me the point of this book, I would be intrigued to know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

iris_sofia07's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Death, Suicide, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

elishahdavis's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Suicide, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, and Physical abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Vomit, and Death of parent

gwenyn's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

2.0

The writing is good but the content is not for me. The main characters are flawed but in ways that made me uncomfortable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content

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

4.5

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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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

kaneebli's review

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

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