No, this is not normal behavior. Most likely you have an extremely long place name (something over 255 characters) in your file that's causing this issue.
If you're willing to send the file to us we should be able to find the problematic place name. For details on how to send the file to us, please see this FAQ.
Alternatively, if you look through your place names (e.g. via the Places List window, under Lists in the Navbar at left) it should be fairly obvious which entry is the issue. Normally it's the result of memo data being entered into a place field.
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