Reviews with content warning for Drug use - How to Be a Normal Person

First of all, I really enjoyed this. Very cute, lotta heart. This being my first experience with TJ Klune's writing – this may be the weirdest thing I've read.

I think ultimately the tone was just so off-base from what I expected. I had picked it up expecting a mildly funny, tender romcom concept, and instead got an absolutely hilarious stumble into a romance. Gus was incredibly relatable, occasionally uncomfortably so. I wasn't crazy about the whole call-a-hipster-a-hipster thing, but Casey grew on me over time. It did feel like the author was throwing a bunch of things (asexuality, neurodivergence, hipsters) that he didn't exactly have personal experience with into a pot and stirring, and while I would've liked a softer/more earnest touch, the result was still tasty.

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albireotales's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

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lettuce_read's review against another edition

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dashboardlights24601's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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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bibliophilicwitch's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

In my favorite romances I end up squeeing over cute interactions between the main characters, but I never had those moments or even enjoyed these overdramatic characters as much as I'm clearly suppose to. The story is funny and the romance is quirky and happy, but apparently not for me.

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wardenred's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

“I smiled,” Gus insisted. “In the mirror this morning. It was awkward and I regret it ever happened.”

TJ Klune's books are apparently very hit or miss for me. I absolutely adore The House in the Cerulean Sea. Recently, I quite enjoyed The Extraordinaries. But once upon a time, when I tried starting his Tales from Verania series, I barely got through 15% before I made the decision to DNF, the sole reason behind that decision being, "I have zero idea what I'm even reading."

How to Be a Normal Person was kind of like that, too. Except I resolutely stuck with it till the end, because I really want to read more books with ace rep. I'm not entirely sure this was a good decision.

The ace rep was one of the things that I did enjoy about this book, in all fairness. There were also some cute moments that made me smile. Some interesting characters. Some nice found family vibes. A ferret that deserved more screen time, in my humble ferret-loving opinion. Really, there were a lot of pieces that, individually, looked like they should make this book very much my kind of read. But they just never fit into a coherent picture. Reading this book was, in fact, like walking around a messy room with plenty of puzzle pieces thrown around in piles, with confetti on top and someone smoking pot in the corner. Colorful, bizarre, funny at times... But not quite the experience I'm looking for, I guess?

In other words, there was a lot of funny dialogue that didn't always move the plot along, the narrative lacked coherence, and an hour after finishing the book, all I can tell you about the plot is, "It's a romance; one of them is grumpy and wants to be a normal person for some reason, the other is an asexual hipster who's sometimes stoned; and there are some quotes from presumably made-up self-help articles that are presumably used as a framing device."

You know what, forget the metaphor about the messy room. This book reminded me of what's usually going on in my own head somewhere between midnight and 3 AM. I read books to get out of my head and to guide the chaotic mess in my brain into some semblance of order. So the book and I, we just didn't click. But I know a lot of people like it, and I hope it keeps finding its readers!

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sarahmiller98's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted

4.0

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