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sofismentallyill's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.0
ajp136's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Addiction, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief
oprah_wimpy's review
5.0
Beautifully cinematic in its telling. Heartbreaking in a visceral way. If you have a sensitive stomach to trauma or abuse, this one is not for you. I found myself putting it down several times because the story was so tough to swallow. It got darker and darker till the very end, and I think this one will definitely stick with me for a long while.
aalicedayy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
elisavo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gaslighting, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking
aaliyah_lomas15's review
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.
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.
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
anythinggoes's review
4.0
HAHA it's not like i cried or anything ಥ‿ಥ
UPDATE:
Now that I have gathered my thoughts and have somewhat moved on from this book, I can finally give a proper review.
So let's talk about the specifics of A Little Life:
1. The Story
Reading this over Christmas was probably the worst decision I made in my little life. Ha! Get it? Anyway, there were parts that were too heavy to digest but they were the right amount of angst I needed to really get the feel of just how dark life really is. The overall story of this book got me thinking about how cruel people can be and how desperate others are to escape that cruelty. The trigger warnings helped a lot in preparing me for this, but I still wasn't prepared for just how nasty some parts were. I say nasty because My only silver lining was the boys' friendship.
2. The Relationships
Don't even get me started about how important this topic is in the entire book. A Little Life is heavily centered on relationships, as it is the same for each character's story. The relationships within this book were so well-thought-of and it encompasses each mistake, each misunderstanding, and each imperfection into one book. There are so many topics that really hit the nail on the head when it comes to different types of relationships and I'm forever grateful for that because not all books are bold enough to show even the dark side of these. Despite all the darkness that's in this book, there are still great things to look forward to.
3. The Characters
The characters in this book have some of the strongest developments I've read so far. I'm not gonna lie, though, part of what made this a 4-star rating is because I didn't exactly get the kind of development I was looking for, but it was amazing nonetheless. The story hit me full-force because of how well the characters were written, and how heartbreaking each of their stories were. I must admit, not all characters' stories were really focused on but with what little we know, we are already able to shape the character into who they are.
4. The Overall Experience
Listen, I cried, and I cried hard but not during what I think most people cried for. I started tearing up when However, I didn't cry when things really went downhill because I was in too much shock and that's another reason for the 4-star rating; I was expecting myself to be on the floor sobbing for the rest of my life, but it just didn't punch me in the face the way I expected it to. Overall, though, I felt all that I needed to feel (minus the punch in the face) and I absolutely would read this again just to feel everything again because I love pain.
UPDATE:
Now that I have gathered my thoughts and have somewhat moved on from this book, I can finally give a proper review.
So let's talk about the specifics of A Little Life:
1. The Story
Reading this over Christmas was probably the worst decision I made in my little life. Ha! Get it? Anyway, there were parts that were too heavy to digest but they were the right amount of angst I needed to really get the feel of just how dark life really is. The overall story of this book got me thinking about how cruel people can be and how desperate others are to escape that cruelty. The trigger warnings helped a lot in preparing me for this, but I still wasn't prepared for just how nasty some parts were. I say nasty because
Spoiler
the scenes where Jude was being abused were just downright inhuman. To say I'm sorry for Jude is an understatement. I can't even begin to express my emotions toward the mistreatment he went through at the hands of different people.2. The Relationships
Don't even get me started about how important this topic is in the entire book. A Little Life is heavily centered on relationships, as it is the same for each character's story. The relationships within this book were so well-thought-of and it encompasses each mistake, each misunderstanding, and each imperfection into one book. There are so many topics that really hit the nail on the head when it comes to different types of relationships and I'm forever grateful for that because not all books are bold enough to show even the dark side of these.
Spoiler
The love between Jude and Willem, specifically, broke my heart and built it back up again. They were both so fit for each other yet they still had so many challenges and that's the truth about relationships that we can never get rid of.3. The Characters
The characters in this book have some of the strongest developments I've read so far. I'm not gonna lie, though, part of what made this a 4-star rating is because I didn't exactly get the kind of development I was looking for, but it was amazing nonetheless. The story hit me full-force because of how well the characters were written, and how heartbreaking each of their stories were. I must admit, not all characters' stories were really focused on but with what little we know, we are already able to shape the character into who they are.
4. The Overall Experience
Listen, I cried, and I cried hard but not during what I think most people cried for. I started tearing up when
Spoiler
Jude was at a lost for who he was and Willem recited everything that made him Jude. Then when Willem told Jude who he was, saying he will never leave Jude, I just lost it. It was over for me then and there.luca_1607's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.75
sarahunty's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
so completely and utterly devastating. for someone who never cries, i couldn’t stop sobbing when it ended. so amazing, highly recommend. though the material can be highly triggering
wojdylakc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0