How to Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune

This is, easily, my most favourite romance book ever. Like… ever. I tend to call it the ‘asexual hipster romance’ when referring to it. In my opinion, this is really TJ Klune at his finest. It combines the two things that he can do really, really well: comedy and an uncanny ability to hit you right in the feels.

Quick Synopsis: We have Gustavo Tiberius likely autistic guy who is grieving his father. His routine is shaken up when the coffee shop gets a new ‘barrista’, Casey. Who is totally stoned on his first day of work and is utterly charmed by Gus and his ferret. Romance and laughter ensues.

And okay. So Gus. The book is written from his point of view. And, for me at least, it’s pretty clear that he’s autistic. This is never outright stated, although it is hinted at but Gus never gets a diagnosis because his dad thinks he’s perfect just the way he is¹. But like if you’re autistic (like me) it is pretty easy to see the signs. So this is a big plus when reading the book for me. Particularly since the characterisation here feels more… genuine to me (better than portrayals like Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan).

Gus is still grieving over the loss of his father. And it is the scenes with his dad where Klune hits you in the feels. Klune, overall, tends to have a lot of characters with ‘daddy issues’ (Wolfsong and Into This River I Drown spring immediately to mind). So far, this is the only variation of this theme that made me a little misty-eyed. The title of the book comes from Gus’ attempts to be normal so that he won’t alienate Casey. This is also the central conflict of the book.

Casey is the asexual hipster. Now I enjoyed this portrayal of asexuality in romance because it wasn’t a big dramatic reveal (like in Ace by Jack Byrne). Instead, Casey tells Gus basically at the beginning of their romance. I also enjoyed it because it isn’t a source of conflict between Gus and Casey (any conflict created by it comes from external sources). We also have Gus easily accepting Casey’s boundaries (like… he just accepts them? Without it being a whole ~thing~?). It also serves to create a book wherein the hugging scenes are about a million times more satisfying than 99% of the sex scenes I’ve read/heard. This might be because I’m also ace and the romantic intimacy this couple has is basically the same as my own relationship (although, I enjoy sex more than Casey). The point being: the lack of sex in this book in no way detracts from the emotional and physical intimacy between the main characters.

Outside of one or two jokes about cross-dressing (and/or trans people) there aren’t many flaws to this book. Particularly not considering that it is a romantic comedy. And anyone who’s read Klune’s other romantic comedy’s knows that he’s one of those rare authors who actually does comedy that can make you laugh out loud. Shit, when listening to part of this in public, you can see me laughing out loud and making silly faces because its just plain fun. And this remains true despite the fact that I’ve listened to the book many, many times.

The audiobook is narrated by Derrick McClain who is a favourite of mine. He has a great voice and I absolutely love its rhythm/cadence. He also has really great comedic timing so his narrations enhances the comedic scenes². Normally Klune’s comedic audiobooks are narrated by Michael Lesley who, admittedly, does a great job with them. But I don’t like him as much as McClain. Actually, I think it might’ve been this book that put McClain on my ‘I’ll listen to pretty much any book he narrates’ list. So yeah.

Recommendation? Yes. I enthusiastically endorse this book. If this were a goodreads review, it would be one of my rare five star books.