How to be a Normal Person - T.J. Klune

[goodreads]

Title: How to be a Normal Person
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~11hrs, 264 pages
Date read: February 2019, April 2020

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?


An absolutely adorable story! I LOVED it, and lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud, or literally "Awwww!!!"'ed out loud while listening to it.

Very different from T.J. Klune's other books, but just as good. And as always, his characters are something out of the ordinary...
- a socially awkward (think Sheldon Cooper +) orphaned video clerk/landlord
- an asexual stoner hipster
- three elderly biker chicks who are either sisters or lesbian lovers
- three ironic amigos
and of course a ferret!

The best thing by far about this book was seeing Gus grow from being a determined loner to actually loving other people and allowing himself to be loved in return. Casey forced him out of his shell, by not even noticing that he HAD one, and it was just delightful to see. It was equally lovely to see Gus (and everybody else) just accept Casey for who he is, and not make a big deal out of him being asexual, or having it be something he needed to be "cured" of.

Very sweet and heartwarming book.