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A review by ajparmentier
How to Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune
Did not finish book.
I had to DNF after four chapters, and from reading reviews, I was right to. This book tries to be written in a quirky funny way, but it completely missed the mark for me. Others might find the writing style to their taste. But what really put the nail in the coffin for me was all the little bits of bigotry floating ambiently.
Gus is heavily autistic coded, but I don't think it was really intentional. It makes the way his neighbors treat him absolutely unbearable. They treat him terribly and dismissively, and it goes largely unchallenged and unexamined by the text.
There's also just a lot of "jokes" that spring from unexamined and unchallenged bigotry. Gus comments every time that he's not sure if the three old women are sisters or lesbians. It's supposed to be a cute running joke, but as a wlw who gets that shit all the the time, it's just lesbophobic.
"Gus sat on his stool behind the counter and watched the front door, waiting in case someone who obviously contributed nothing to society came in on a Thursday morning to rent a movie." Stunning commentary about the worth of people who don't work during "normal" business hours: the unemployed, disabled, stay at home mothers, retired, shift-workers, etc. etc. etc.
"Once a mate is chosen, the breeding is quick and chaotic, and nannies may choose multiple partners while the male chooses only one. Gus had been slightly horrified at the fact that there were promiscuous female goats. He decided he was glad he was human. Most of the time." This is just such a weird comment, I can't even begin to unravel the layers of strange misogyny. I don't understand why someone would take goats mating so personally.
And just all the depictions of the middle aged and older female characters just come across as unbearable caricatures. I'll stop there as there are other reviews that have addressed these issues and more, but I can say that I'm not interested in reading any book that's so dismissive of marginalized groups (even if the author is a member of one of those groups). Especially if it's not even funny.
Gus is heavily autistic coded, but I don't think it was really intentional. It makes the way his neighbors treat him absolutely unbearable. They treat him terribly and dismissively, and it goes largely unchallenged and unexamined by the text.
There's also just a lot of "jokes" that spring from unexamined and unchallenged bigotry. Gus comments every time that he's not sure if the three old women are sisters or lesbians. It's supposed to be a cute running joke, but as a wlw who gets that shit all the the time, it's just lesbophobic.
"Gus sat on his stool behind the counter and watched the front door, waiting in case someone who obviously contributed nothing to society came in on a Thursday morning to rent a movie." Stunning commentary about the worth of people who don't work during "normal" business hours: the unemployed, disabled, stay at home mothers, retired, shift-workers, etc. etc. etc.
"Once a mate is chosen, the breeding is quick and chaotic, and nannies may choose multiple partners while the male chooses only one. Gus had been slightly horrified at the fact that there were promiscuous female goats. He decided he was glad he was human. Most of the time." This is just such a weird comment, I can't even begin to unravel the layers of strange misogyny. I don't understand why someone would take goats mating so personally.
And just all the depictions of the middle aged and older female characters just come across as unbearable caricatures. I'll stop there as there are other reviews that have addressed these issues and more, but I can say that I'm not interested in reading any book that's so dismissive of marginalized groups (even if the author is a member of one of those groups). Especially if it's not even funny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Homophobia