Reviews with content warning for Blood - Normal People

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Normal People by Sally Rooney

295 reviews

felishacb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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_meganrose's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

I can see why this book can be so polarizing for people. It gave me a similar feel to ‘One Day’ and ‘Alone With You In The Ether,’ which are two of my favorites. It had the potential to be right up there with them, but just fell slightly short. This was very emotional and humanizing. The complexity of the characters and their dynamic had me hooked. My only two major critiques are: 1. I wish there were quotations around the dialogue - it was confusing sometimes and 2. the final chapter was a let down.

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jjmydude's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-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

4.25

Gives a glimpse into the lives of two individuals leading extraordinary and mundane lives.

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chantelsorae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-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

4.5

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rachellen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Admittedly I had watched the show multiple times before reading the book today, so I’d lacked the urgency to actually read it. I am so very glad I have now.

The show does follow the book but I found it so much more emotional as a whole to read the words said between Connell and Marianne. Particularly, when Marianne says ‘most people go through their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close to anyone’. Also - ‘Marianne, he said, I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.’

The reason as to why I love this story, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it or the writing, is because it is flawed. The characters are flawed through and through, constantly making their lives difficult because of the intrusion of their desires and emotions and hate. This is what it means to be a sentient human being. That is why I love this story.

I found the power play between the two characters incredibly multifaceted, it evolved constantly. Marianne belongs to a different social class with more money and her mother is her family’s cleaner which in turn funds Connell’s family home. Yet neither have fathers, they are not present or deceased, when they meet. On the other hand, Connell has power over Marianne, particularly in their school relationship, as Marianne is incredibly vulnerable and abused at home leading to insecurities where she is wanting to please Connell to (possibly) make him stay (the secret relationship, university conversations and so on). In school, Connell is popular, Marianne is not. In university, Marianne is popular and even gets Connell a job so he can pay rent, whilst Connell is not popular and works jobs. Marianne has a paid for flat with her own room and so on, Connell works to pay for a shared room in a house. When Marianne leaves home, she relies on Connell and his family, and is no longer wealthy, so they also both become equal (?) financially after they win scholarships, possibly bending more to Connell’s favour as he worked. The power play constantly changes, I believe it balances out in the end, yet the ending infers that there are more power imbalances/balances to occur.

When I found myself on the final page I felt panicked at Marianne’s coolness, particularly after a bicker between them, but when she ends with saying ‘I’ll always be here. You know that.’ - it was probably the most devoted, unprompted, purest thing that Marianne says to Connell in the entire book. It is a pledge.

I could go on for days. But I won’t bore readers of this review any longer.

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pau0704's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Really liked this book. It's very easy to read and very easy to follow the story. Characters are complex and really well developed. I really don't have much to say about this book except that I liked it a lot and the ending was not what I was expecting so I really liked that, always love when a book surprises me in a good way.
Loved the writing style of the author. Now I get why this book is this famous.

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harper11's review against another edition

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

1.0

One star because the only thing that pushed me through the trenches of this book was Rooney’s writing style. This book was completely and absolutely not for me, which is a shame considering the hype.

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