Elisabeth McMichael

HELL YES.

This is what I wanted Normal People to be. The genius of this book really snuck up on me and this novel turned out to be SO satisfying. I loved that I could feel the tone of the novel and voice of the narrator change/grow/evolve in time with the character (which should happen but sometimes doesn’t).

I loved that-despite not really liking any of the characters at first-I was rooting for all of them at the end. I also really loved that the author managed to take such a frustrating “romance” trope and somehow not make me feel frustrated. She didn’t lean into miscommunication or genuinely stupid characters to drive the issues between the main characters and that was very rewarding. The dynamics in this book all felt very realistic to me. And the timing of everything was so right and felt so natural. This is such a perfect coming of age (like frontal lobe development) novel for adults (coming from a 23 year old lol).

I loved this book. And what a perfect ending.

really very good. classic john green. the depth of research was really incredible considering i never felt overwhelmed by the amount of information i was given. i learned a lot from this book.

being in snow’s head for 16 hours (audiobook) was EXHAUSTING. but what a supervillain! his inner thoughts really got kinda scary at the end.

i liked how this book gave me a lot of insight into the WHYs of the hunger games. i liked the politics of it and i liked hearing his inner thoughts and turmoil as he justified his actions and worldview.

i loved all the easter eggs and tie-ins to the original series. and i loved that every time he showed his true colors i could think about how he gets his comeuppance in such an unwittingly personal way.

HELL YES.

This is what I wanted Normal People to be. The genius of this book really snuck up on me and this novel turned out to be SO satisfying. I loved that I could feel the tone of the novel and voice of the narrator change/grow/evolve in time with the character (which should happen but sometimes doesn’t).

I loved that-despite not really liking any of the characters at first-I was rooting for all of them at the end. I also really loved that the author managed to take such a frustrating “romance” trope and somehow not make me feel frustrated. She didn’t lean into miscommunication or genuinely stupid characters to drive the issues between the main characters and that was very rewarding. The dynamics in this book all felt very realistic to me. And the timing of everything was so right and felt so natural. This is such a perfect coming of age (like frontal lobe development) novel for adults (coming from a 23 year old lol).

I loved this book. And what a perfect ending.

this is one of the first books i’ve read in a long time that i didn’t want to put down. i thought about it constantly. i’d read it on my lunch break at work and then as soon as i got home. it is so good. i think what makes it even better is that i really wasn’t expecting to like it.

i really loved that the ending of this book changed my perception on the whole of it it felt like the whole world opened up and everything from the beginning could be seen in a new way. i was also pleasantly surprised with the direction it took because i really wasn’t expecting different dimensions and i’m happy that the whole story won’t stay within the confines of the school or the government the way i figured

i only took off a star for two reasons:

1. i felt like the world building was a bit confusing. probably reader error but i felt like there were things that were explained too late or not at all and i really had to rely on context clues to figure it out. there was a helpful glossary in the back but i’m lazy and also forgot about it for half of the book.

2. i really liked that vis was a no-bullshit type of hero. he is strong, capable, extremely intelligent, and had a realistic moral code. BUT there were some victories of his that felt slightly unbelievable. am i bad for wanting my hero to fail sometimes? mainly i’m talking about the foundation game between him and belli. i didn’t really want him to fail but i would have maybe liked him to struggle more.

otherwise, this book is fantastic. it was slightly slow to start but so so worth it. i can’t wait for the next book.