laylaxm17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- 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” CONNELL SHUT UP I’LL CRY
Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death, Eating disorder, and Body shaming
abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition
- 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
This book made a 9 hour flight with crazy turbulences even longer and stressful.
I do want to give it another chance… I think.
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
elishahdavis's review
3.0
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.
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
lzimmeade's review
- 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
Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Body shaming
Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
zenizage's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
anton13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Body shaming, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Suicide, Classism, Self harm, Sexual content, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Blood
Minor: Antisemitism, Drug use, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Body horror, Excrement, and Eating disorder
sunshineshazam's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Eating disorder and Body shaming
swagkermit's review against another edition
- 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
I've heard rave reviews about Sally Rooney's books both online and in-person, and I thought one of her strengths was crafting realistic characters. Unfortunately for me, I did not realise that 'realistic and flawed' is synonymous with 'unlikeable'. I simply did not like either of these people at all and did not care for them, they fell rather flat.
Most of my criticisms of these characters were brought up in the book (namely Helen calling Marianne self-absorbed) and Rooney attempts to refute this by saying that Marianne genuinely cares about world politics and it's not attention-seeking (as Helen believes). I do not believe that it is attention seeking, but it does seem that Marianne gets a kick out of feeling superior to other people (especially when her History teacher gets his comeuppance for daring to try and teach her history, as if she could learn anything from him). This trait lessens a bit as the book goes on
Spoiler
and morphs into something darker, but at that point I didn't care enough for her to worry about the turn her life was taking.I found the writing was fine and there were some particularly quotable passages, but I didn't have any kind of emotional response to anything that happened (apart from maybe the first 'break-up' situation).
I thought that there were some good social observations in this book, my favourite being the scholarships and the discussion between Connell and Marianne about the significance to each of them.
Overall I felt like I was living in a bubble of only them, and they were both living in that bubble as well. People drifted in and out of their lives - friends, relationships - but they didn't seem to actually like any of these people and were just passing time until they collided again. Apparently no one understands them like each other, yet it seems they must be desperate for a relationship with anyone because they go running into one with whoever their friend recommends as their next partner with no regard to their own feelings. Is this how people are actually living these days?
I felt like I was missing something key about this relationship and did not find their story memorable at all. That said, I think I will try to watch the series to see if observing real people acting out these events makes them seem 'raw' and 'realistic'.
Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
holliesatchell's review
- 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
Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Suicide
selenaskitels's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Bullying, Violence, and Body shaming