How to Be a Normal Person (1) Paperback – October 16, 2015

As a 16 year-old asexual teenager looking for ways to vicariously live through other people, the description of “How to Be a Normal Person” intrigued me and I began reading the sample. In the same hour, I finished, bought the book, and have been hooked ever since 12:53 pm. The hour I finished it. I read it through English class, during work, while i was eating dinner, while getting ready for bed, getting into bed, and kissing my cat good night. I continued the second I got on the bus, sat in the cafeteria, went to my first, second, and third period, and then the rein of TJ Klune was over (I finished it in an embarrassing amount of time).I’ve read “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and enjoyed it, though not as much as I enjoyed this book. It was weird, abnormal, and strange, but it was a perfect and an incredible read and I am definitely buying the sequel after I reread the entire thing. Maybe twice.Thank you TJ Klune for showing me that being weird is perfect, that being ace doesn’t mean loneliness, and that the internet is a horrible place and maybe I should get off my phone every once-in-awhile.Despite my high opinion of the book, read the sample first! It WILL (most-likely) hook you, that’s a promise, just try it, you’ll (probably) like it.

My goal of only reading books either featuring LGBTQ+ characters or from LGBTQ+ authors for Pride month has covered a decent variety - so far I’ve read books with lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, queer, trans, and non-binary characters so for this next read I thought it would be nice to find one featuring an asexual character. After a little Googling, I came across this book. The blurb sounded good and I was familiar with the author after having read (and loved) Under the Whispering Door last year so I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m so glad I did because this book was flipping hilarious, I can’t remember the last time I literally laughed out loud so often while reading a book. Pretty much every page had me chuckling while still providing a really heartwarming love story. I think I have to say that this book was my favorite of the ones I’ve read this month, and I have a feeling it’s going to hold a top spot in my favorite reads of the year. I loved everything about it.So what’s it about? Well, it follows 29-year-old Gustavo Tiberius, who is a bit of a loner, enjoys his routines, reads the encyclopedia every night before bed, has a pet ferret named Harry S. Truman, and owns a video rental store that no one goes to. By all accounts, he is anything but normal, but that’s just fine with him. His life is turned upside down, however, when stoner asexual hipster Casey Richards moves to town and decides that Gus is the greatest thing ever and that they will be friends. Gus decides that Casey deserves someone normal so he sets out on a quest to figure out how to be a normal person and hilarity ensues. After all this, will Gus find out that being “normal” is overrated and that being “weird and strange” is still good enough to get the guy?Oh Gus, sweet Gus. I loved him so much. He may have been thorny on the outside but inside he was such a softy and it was so sweet seeing the people he chose to let through the prickly exterior. From Lottie with her drag queen hair to the We Three Queens, the geriatric biker (Vespa) trio who were either sisters or polyamorous lesbians (it’s still up for debate), and then Casey the bearded, stoner, asexual hipster who spent too much time Instagramming his food - Gus had more people who truly cared about him than he’d be comfortable admitting. They all loved him, quirks and all, but Gus couldn’t see that and felt the need to try to be more normal. How does one start to figure out how to be a normal person? Turn to the internet, of course! Because we all know the internet has never steered anyone wrong before. Gus’s journey to even get the internet was freaking hilarious and then all the “advice” he found cracked me up. It was so awkward and cringy at times but seeing Gus’s reactions to his own words/actions were so funny. And Casey was just the best! He never judged and always went with the flow, he truly liked Gus and I loved how he basically bulldozed his way into Gus’s life.As the blurb states, Casey identified as asexual and I thought this book did an excellent job of explaining what that meant and having the characters deal with what that means in the context of a potential relationship. Even though this book is absent of sexy times, there’s still plenty of sweetness to get your heart fluttering - Casey did give pretty amazing hugs, after all! These boys were so cute together and I loved all their meddling friends helping them along the way. The story overall was very low angst, with just a bit of a conflict toward the end, it really was just a heartwarming and hilarious journey of trying to become “normal" but realizing that the way you are is already more than enough - especially in the eyes of those who love you. I’m so glad I came across this story and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book that’ll leave a smile on your face long after you’ve finished reading it!

Wonderful, sweet story with romance between people who are outside our society's "norm" for romance and what it means to be in a relationship. Absolutely loved it and laughed out loud over and over. Strongly recommend this one.

Twenty-nine-year-old Gustavo (Gus) Tiberius has some very distinctive qualities (along with his name): he follows a rigid daily routine, is “a bit dour” and needs “daily affirmations” from others (which he actually hates), glares a lot and never smiles, is reticent (to say the least) and antisocial, is lonely (but refuses to acknowledge it), lives alone with a ferret named Harry S. Truman which Gus inherits from his father (along with a lot of property) where he eats TV dinners and is working his way through the encyclopedia in alphabetical order—his only reading, hates surprises, is totally out of touch with the real world owning a video rental store with virtually no customers and completely ignorant of the ways of technology using a flip phone only to order an occasional pizza (no texting!), drives his dad’s 1995 Ford Taurus (with 237,000 miles on it), gets hurt when he hears people say he just isn’t normal behind his back (even though he knows they are right and never lets on he has heard them), and—well, you get the picture. Gus has issues. Then a new guy, twenty-three-year old Casey John Richards starts working at the coffee shop where Gus gets his daily cup of coffee to go (of course) on his way to work. Casey has a beard and tattoos and is “lean and pretty and so very sunny” which makes Gus feel very “awkward.” Casey is also stoned most of the time and is determined to make Gus his friend. Gus’s world in Abby, Oregon, is about to be thrown out of its usual orbit.Set in 2014 How to be a Normal Person (2015) by TJ Klune features one of the most atypical, amusing characters in fiction since Jerzy Kosinski gave birth to Chauncey Gardiner in Being There (1970). It is also a most hilarious novel filled with numerous off-beat characters, incidents, and one laugh-out-lout moment after another.It isn’t easy to sustain comedy throughout an entire full-length novel, but Klune manages to do so with a natural sequence of events for a couple within a budding relationship—just doing it in an unnatural fashion as Gus finds himself with bewildering feelings for a stoner hipster. Klune’s comicalness ranges from one-liners to entire madcap scenes, but never at the expense of debasing the characters he creates and obviously cares for—as will the reader.For the first time in his life Gus wants to change—"to be normal” for the chance of a relationship with Casey. Casey appears to want a relationship, too, but complicates the situation by quickly informing Gus that Casey is asexual and “fragile.” Adding to the chaos are three friends of Gus’s: “elderly bikers (on Vespas) who wear matching pink coats” who may be lesbians or sisters egging on Gus to come out of his shell and engage with Casey as well.For advice on how to become “normal,” Gus turns to the Internet to which he is unaccustomed where he discovers a series of articles which frequently have “simple, easy steps” to follow and are frequently either totally misleading or hilarious but do both aid (and confuse) Gus as he stumbles his way forward often with moments of fumbling awkwardness into the world.As Gus and Casey’s relationship takes on new layers and growing meaning (as well as complications), Klune’s novel continues to be consistently droll without becoming farcical and by time the work reaches its conclusion, How to be a Normal Person proves to be as heart-warming as it is funny. Simply put, it is a delightful reading experience.

If you have a friend, family member who thinks and functions a little different to the rest of society this will resonate. This is the first that I have read from this author it will not be the last. Gus is that character who lives life on his own terms and I loved that the author resisted putting labels on him. Most especially I loved that he had this great (hilarious) cast of support characters who accepted Gus just the way he is. There are lots of non people support character like the inspirational quotes calendar that started each day and seems to take on a life of its own, the ferret with merit, the town, and Gus's use of the internet to figure out how to be a normal person. Yes this is a love story but love on so many different levels not just between Gus and the asexual hipster Casey. The most enjoyable reads highly recommended (in other words you should so read this is you need a smile).

I've never before been mad whilst reading a book that I'll never get to read it for the first time again. I enjoyed this book so much even while I was in the middle of reading it i wanted to read it again. It is the perfect balance of funny and sad but heartwarming. The asexual representation made me feel seen and understood and like it was the most natural thing in the world that a romance book wasn't just leading up to sex as the be-all and end-all. Thank you for this absolute treasure.

I really enjoyed the humour in this book - if you don't laugh when you get to the mention of Topeka, Kansas, I don't know what to say to you. I loved that there was an asexual main character who was really upfront and self-assured about it, and that all the other characters were cool with it (while still raising issues that asexual people face). I'm not a big fan of stoner culture, but didn't find that part of the plot to be too intrusive.

I enjoyed reading but found that some parts lagged a bit. Overall, certainly a very good read, and I do not mind prose that is sometimes slow, but there were a few places that just seemed to go on without a lot happening are being described. Nice characters. A light read. Good moral lessons and advice for young adults.

This is the third book by TJ Klune I have read, and I am pretty certain I will end up purchasing his entire works. This story reminds me a little of Tell Me It's Real and it uses a great reference to it too :). The main character is an awkward, to the point of being almost abnormal, guy, not looking for anything in particular other than having an okay day and seeing that one person that turns his life upside down and inside out. This isn't as funny as TMIR, but it has its moments, or rather chapters on customer service *will make sense when you read it* which are simply amazing and so funny. This story though felt a little deeper, a bit more of a slow burner and I loved it.On a side note, it is so great to see more Ace representation in a story like this.