Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

44 reviews

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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alicesloan's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Death

amethystbutterfly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Torture, and Sexual harassment

andrrea's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Addiction and Blood

gabrielleclarke05's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

bcooper21's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, and Abortion

vincef's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Blood

kaireading's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring reflective 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

4.75

Such a lovely and thought-provoking book. Rooney’s writing style is beautiful: clear, bold and just shocking at times (as if, no one ever says that because it sounds so weird but the book somehow makes it sound quite mundane) but at the same time nonchalant. It flows so beautifully and it’s easy and satisfying to read. The characters in the book are very realistic and relatable, they are not idolized in any way, they just… exist. Sally describes them in a neutral way so that she encourages the readers to develop their own opinions. The book touches on many real-life topics and is overall a very pleasant and comforting read, because the heavier topics are presented in an easily digestible  way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

caitatkinson_'s review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War