Reviews tagging 'Acephobia/Arophobia'

Et Lille Liv by Hanya Yanagihara

39 reviews

aaliyah_lomas15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was captivated in the first quarter of the book. It was beautifully written, I was interested in the characters who felt real, and enjoyed the exploration of their friendship, their own feelings and backgrounds. However, it becomes a novel that is entirely focused on Jude, and Willem to some extent. Malcolm and JB are basically there in the rest of the book to advance the plot in some way. I think the author didn't know how to continue with their lives and therefore essentially removed them from Jude's life in one way or another. 

Jude's backstory is tragic. As a result, he is deeply traumatised. I understand the effects of trauma, but what he does is so repetitive. I understand that's the point, the exploration of the cycle of abuse and how it affects him, but the author doesn't add anything new or nuanced to the conversation. It seems like they didn't research the effects of abuse on real life survivors, so they just kept repeating the same ones. 

I know this is a fictional novel, but the characters are unbelievable. Unlike others I do not perceive the extent of Jude's abuse as unbelievable, but I do view all of his talents and accomplishments as such. The main four friend group consists of people that are all incredibly successful in their careers and life in general. The only person who really fucks up is JB, but we barely hear from him afterwards which is such a shame as I think his story is personally the most interesting. JB is the only character in this novel who isn't explicitly good or bad. The author writes characters who are black or white (not racially), good or bad. There is no grey area for their characters. The only one who falls into that category is JB, and we don't get to explore his life more. We don't get to explore his feelings on being expelled from his friendship group. After the 200 page mark we only really see JB randomly, usually to advance the plot in terms of aggravating Jude and Willem, to point out how 'shallow' he is with his 'unserious' problems compared to what Jude has faced. 

Sure, Jude's childhood is hellish and he's working to deal with it throughout the book. But in his adult life he is surrounded by people who love him (and slightly enable him). All his friends love him; he's incredibly skilled in mathematics, baking, playing piano, etc; he gets a very well paying job in which he is completely idolised; he has a relationship with the perfect person; he is adopted by loving parents at the age of 30. My point is that despite his childhood, nothing goes wrong for him in adulthood (until the last 100 pages). His adult life is so unbelievable. Jude is focused on for basically the entire book, yet I don't think his character is truly explored. What he does is incredibly repetitive, and it's very boring as a reader. This book could easily have been edited down, probably even 200 pages down, and I think it would be more impactful. There are plenty of novels that have truly impacted me far more than this one has. Yes, it's traumatic and sad, but it could be so much more. The writing is beautiful; the characters could be so more nuanced and interesting; friendship could be properly explored (like the blurb promises). 

TLDR: This book has a lot of potential. The beginning is well written and fascinating, but it's too drawn out and repetitive. The first half and second half of the book feels completely disconnected from each other. It feels like the author decided to change their focus, and the novel truly suffers as a result. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Rape, Death, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Blood, Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Grief, Hate crime, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Torture, and Abandonment

emmarauchtcamel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

i don’t know what’s going on in hanya yanagihara’s mind but damn this woman made my heart shatter into a million pathetic little pieces and called it a day 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Biphobia, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Body horror, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Homophobia

neontulips's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm furious. The craft of this book was so excellent, asides from what I would say amount to some planning and character writing issues that begin about the final quarter of the book, that it bothers me immensely that every lesson in the book emanates such a pessimism, that they all amount essentially to a bleak miserable world that does not do much to fight Jude's contention that his life is not worth living. Around the point in the book where I began to think, wow, Yanagihara really understands that the only way to really go on living is to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known, she created a false world in which it was impossible to allow oneself that relief,

and concluded a story which purports essentially that the people around Jude should have let him go, as a man only fifty, because his life was so hard

. To treat such violence as inevitable is to put that violence into the world. This book is beautiful and miserly and irresponsible. I hated giving it a rating for this purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Vomit, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Child death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Medical content

dbsuperslayer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Ableism, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Blood, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Vomit, Car accident, Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Forced institutionalization

floraaea3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Acephobia/Arophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

feral_andro's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

tw: suicide

minor spoilers

I did not particularly like this book and don't understand why so many people do. The writing was not immersive for me -- instead of showing the reader who the characters are, all we get are endlessly long descriptions of the author telling us. I typically really enjoy dense writing, but it was not beautiful or original prose.
As for content, I still don't know how I feel about it. As someone who has experienced abuse, I just don't see Jude's internalization of it as realistic. Yes, there are elements of realism,  but I think the degree to which he has internalized what he experienced is dramatized in the extreme and somehow takes away from the experiences of real abuse survivors .... though I have not yet been able to find the words to describe why I feel this.
(Possibly because in the end we're just supposed to accept that some people are too broken to be "saved" and are just destined to die. And as someone who has been suicidal before, I don't like this suggestion at all.)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Self harm, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dysphoria, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

adamparrishlover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Death, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Blood, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Car accident, and Vomit

Moderate: Racism, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Homophobia

prawdziwki's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

o tym też nie chcę rozmawiać, bo mnie nie przekonacie // this is fucking awful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Death, Chronic illness, Ableism, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Biphobia, Transphobia, Homophobia, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Outing, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical content, Classism, Racism, and Grief

moomoochamp's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Ableism, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Vomit

emilyhunterr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Adult/minor relationship