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martieliz'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
2.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, and Grief
rubyreadzz'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? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Abortion
microbemom's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
reemoony's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Pregnancy
mila_laureyssen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
pageafter_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
ericispublius's review against another edition
- 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: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Classism
michaelion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
My only issues are with the way it was written. That's more of a personal thing though. I find dialogue to be the most important part of a piece of media involving two or more people and in this book there are no quotation marks. The writing is very, very good, so the issue was when it flipped from being internal and external. Although I'm sure that was intentional. My other issue is I didn't like how their stories went. But that's another personal thing! If only they knew how to just talk to each other! Even still I think they're the kind of people who will get married in the future whether or not they work on themselves. They're it for each other. I like that, but I wish they were healthier!
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, and Grief
paulaks'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
4.0
This book is A LOT while being quite uneventful. Being character driven, it follows 2 characters over 4 years. Documenting my life for that long would be the most boring piece of literature but Connell and Marianne are SO complicated and traumatized. That has to be my first warning: The amount of triggers that are passively talked about is worrying. Please check those before reading (I tried to list some). Overall the reading experience was quite intense. Since there are no quotation marks, the thoughts, storytelling and conversations blend in together which can be confusing but makes for a really intriguing experience. The writing style was 10/10 so no need to continue on that.
Honestly, you can categorize the people that read this novel by their rating into two groups: The group that didn´t build a connection, were annoyed or angry or aren´t empathetic (= ratings lower than 2.5). And the ones who identified themselves with character traits or are just really empathetic (= rating 2.5+). Just a little thesis of mine, don´t take it to seriously. But what you should take serious is the fact that if you can´t build any connection with one of the MCs by the 50% mark, there is little to no point in reading this. I was quite invested so here´s my experience: Their decision-making had me on my toes, even tho the way they continued making wrong choices was exhausting. But it´s definitely interesting how trauma can shape a human being. This aspect shocked me a few times and made me question my own behaviour.
Lastly, the title choice is well done. Who is normal? Are we normal people? Do we want to be normal people? At least I was trying to answer that question.
My rating right now would be a 4 star. The potential was there and maybe I´m the problem but sometimes there were illogical moments and situations that made me uncomfortable (most of the time with Marianne). As you can guess by my long review, this is a great book for a group discussion but be aware that this would reveal a lot of personal stuff since Normal people is an intimate story.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abortion, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
valen_chialvo's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder