Audiobook Review: How to be a Normal Person by T.J. Klune

Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.

Gus is not normal. And he's fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.

Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie's Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.

But Gus isn't normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Narrator: Derrick McClain
Length: 11 hrs, 7 mins

I've said it before and I'll say it again, not being able to add quotes from an audiobook sucks. This book was full of amazing one liners and tons of quality banter! Not to mention characters that will stick with you long after you’ve finished listening.

Because this is an audiobook review I’m not going to delve too much into the storyline. I mainly want to talk about the incredible narration of Derrick McClain. At first I wasn’t to sure of the story. It's definitely not what you’d call fast paced, and the first chapter or so is just an introduction to Gus and his routine. Due to the more sedate nature of the introduction I wasn’t to sure of McClain to begin with. He definitely wasn’t bad, but he didn’t grab my attention either. However, by the end of the book I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to read this book because any voice in my head wouldn’t come close to emulating the true voices of Gus and Casey, which was of course McClain doing.

I think sometimes that's where really amazing narration can be set apart of good narration, that quality that draws you into the story and makes these characters real in a way that can’t happen in your imagination. You can hear these men falling in love. They're right there telling you how they feel. It really is incredible. McClain made this story excellent for me, I would've enjoyed it if I'd read it, but not to the extent I did listening to it.

Needless to say, I LOVED his voices for Gus and Casey, they were completely different but complimented each other perfectly, much like the characters.

These characters are definitely what made this book! Gus is so quirky in that deadpan way. I have a soft spot for grumpy characters and Grumpy Gus was definitely my favourite so far. Then there's Casey, sweet stoner Casey. He was just lovely! But these two together were even lovelier!!

I think the downside to this book was it's a bit too long considering nothing happens. I also don't think I found this book as laugh out loud funny as a lot of other people. I was certainly still smiling throughout the whole book and will never hear phrases like ‘what the hell?’ or ‘Oh my God!’ again without hearing Gus.

This book is definitely on the slower side and it was nice to listen to on and off over the course of a week, but I’d definitely recommend it! McClain gets 5 hearts for making me fall so in love with Gus and Casey.

A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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