Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

58 reviews

abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-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

1.25

May or may not be dense, but it wasn’t that deep.

This book made a 9 hour flight with crazy turbulences even longer and stressful.

I do want to give it another chance… I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Rape

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

zenizage's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

With Sally Rooney the core of the story is always the character(s) she creates and I find her writing really easy to follow, while the subject she writes about is often rather hard (TW: there is some abusive behaviour and violence in Normal People). 
We jump around a bit in time and in POV in this one. We learn about what happens through what Connell or Marianne respectively experience or how they remember an event, an interesting way to convey how misunderstandings can and will happen between two people. The essence is in what wasn't said, the very real problem of (not) communicating while also still trying to figure things out as a teen or young adult. It lacks in depth sometimes, but the characters are still very young, so it is almost fitting.
Since the story is told from the perspectives of two different people and is specifically about their relationship the reader doesn't really get to dive that deep into the world and deeper thoughts of a character–but it makes for a fast read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Classism, Grief, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Bullying

Minor: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

fleursreads's review

emotional reflective tense medium-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

5.0

everything about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Bullying

selimhannah's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, and Injury/injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Suicide, Abortion, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Vomit

ryanbada's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Classism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Death

Minor: Injury/injury detail, Racism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

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

ju_harue's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

Eu já tinha assistido a série - sim, fiz o caminho inverso do “normal” rsrsrs - e estava com expectativas altas, já que as amigas que haviam lido, disseram que a escrita da autora era muito boa, mas como minha experiência com a série já não tinha sido arrebatadora, uma vez que eu não tinha me conectado muito, fiquei receosa - mas agora, depois de ler, achei que foi uma super adaptação e pretendo reassistir com o olhar do livro.
E de fato, a escrita é excelente. Por ser um livro relativamente curto, eu achei que seria uma leitura super rápida, mas não… foi difícil ler, talvez por trazer a sensação de ser tão real, tão sofrido, tão palpável, muitas vezes, vi que era necessário fechar o livro e ficar pensando sobre.
A forma como Sally toca em assuntos tão intensos e gatilhos diversos, profundamente, é bem única, transformando toda a experiência de leitura e os acontecimentos.
Gostei tanto que mal posso esperar para ler os próximos livros dela.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Addiction, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

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

jmarierva's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.0

Woof. This book. This was far more challenging for me and my preferred reading theme than I expected it to be. 

This was my first Sally Rooney book. So being unfamiliar with her writing I went into this book assuming it was a nice modern romance.. This is actually a story about miscommunication, emotional abuse/trauma, bullying, awareness of self, emotional maturity, love, abandonment, dependency, and friendship. It was a LOT. 

Personally, I found the characters pretty frustrating. Mainly because it seemed like a magnified version of how life can look for people who have trouble with any of those above themes?

But throughout the entire book I was waiting for

Spoiler

the moment when they finally admit their feelings and commit to each other, or permanently end things. But the entire book was a constant back and forth of each other misunderstanding each other and then inadvertently or purposefully hurting each other - which I personally find frustrating to read in a book. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t objectively a good premise. The last two minutes of the book literally gave me so much anxiety and frustration.

This book is a look at real life and truly complex human emotions. It is veryyy well done. It was simple a hard read when I typically look for escapism in my books, not a highlighting of my own personal anxieties/insecurities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming

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