Reviews

Et Lille Liv by Hanya Yanagihara

Only show reviews with written explanations

jess_mango's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

4.5 stars . I will post more later. I need to process my thoughts on this one a bit more.

hugsnotdrogs's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

radio_02's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

A deeply moving book with a vast cast of deep and thoroughly thought out characters, surrounding mainly Jude and his whole life, from as young he can remember to his death, starting in his collage years with various flashbacks through, but also focuses on the stories of the people in his life, the ones that shaped who he was, be it in a good or bad way.

kbidd505's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

All I feel is pain Hanya what did i ever do to u

caitrunswild's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

camiraculous's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I don’t recommend this book to my friends or anyone, really.
Or, read this book but you have to prepare yourself for a VERY emotional read.

I was nauseated, had to close my eyes on so many parts and had to take breaks because I couldn’t read through lyrics tears. I am in grief.

Check the trigger warnings, and I can’t stress this enough.

As I am writing this, I still have a hundred pages left, but I needed to sort my feelings before being even more in grief.

It is book you can not put down but also a book that you have to put down to absorb the horror of it.

I hated that book at some point, I thought « why would I do that to myself? I can just put the book down » but no! I couldn’t because what I was reading couldn’t be final,

there had to be an end to all that suffering Jude went through!

But I loved it. The writing is flawless. I loved how seamlessly we could jump from one narration to another, or from a moment in time to another.

I loved how some pieces of the story, important pieces, were only first mentioned in the latter half of the book. How we kept on discovering more and more about each character in a quite jarring manner.

And, I need to talk about how much I loved the characters.

My favourite one is Willem. I loved reading in his perspective, discovering his flaws and insecurities right after a chapter where he was described as the perfect friend by Jude.

The first chapter we got with Malcolm (the only), I cried and was sad for two days. I related so much to that character, lost, and hopeless and not knowing what to do with his life even though he knows he has opportunities and capacity. Him not wanting do disappoint his parents but also not wanting to do as the pleased… I am at that place in my life, early twenties. And I think that if I re-read the book, maybe I will relate to other parts of the story.

I love books that make me take a big step back, rethink your priorities.

But as I said: I do not recommend this book. Or don’t blame me if you do read it and do not come out intact. (it’s crazy how people only read the stuff I forbid them to read).

…

It took me ages to finish it because it is hard to read through tears.

I still agree with my review previously written. I still love-hate this book and it’s characters.

Content Warnings