Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

110 reviews

bethh_'s review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

Minor: Cancer

caitlin_d89's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

Take notes, they will help so much at first. It will say “he did” / “he said” but the POV changes up without notice so knowing the characters will keep you from being confused. Hard book to read since it’s so emotional but such a good read. I felt connected to the characters, almost like a friend by the end so you really feel their feels. Triggers! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Blood, Ableism, Medical content, Gaslighting, Confinement, Body shaming, Abandonment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Self harm, Torture, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Trafficking, Suicide, Mental illness, Gore, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Body horror, Incest, and Child abuse

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Gaslighting, Addiction, Bullying, Gore, Biphobia, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Incest, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Kidnapping

thetinysnail's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Vomit, Homophobia, Alcohol, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Self harm, Suicide, Ableism, Medical content, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Child abuse, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Drug use, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Car accident, Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, Cancer, and Adult/minor relationship

delilah_reads23's review against another edition

The book feels like a roller coaster, not the one that excites but the one that makes you nauseous. The lows are very low, and the highs are very high, and pretty soon it becomes a predictable pattern. The author claimed she does not believe in therapy, and it shows. Also, just look at the triggers for this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cursing, Death, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Death, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Sexual assault

hollynewton's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book navigates adult friendships, aging, career paths, addiction, romantic relationships, and family is the most insightful and beautiful way I have ever read. Unfortunately, this all ends around a third of the way in, when the book focuses on one character’s extremely traumatic life. <spoilers> The graphic and excessive descriptions of child rape, self harm and domestic abuse left me desensitised, an effect that I think is harmful to the reader and one that I hope the author did not intend. I understand that Jude’s suffering is the foundation of his character, but Yanagihara’s rendering of his abuse feels sensationalist and in my opinion trauma porn. Whilst a full recovery and happy ending for Jude would have been unrealistic, the sheer volume of physical, psychological, sexual abuse he experiences is so extreme that it feels pointless. Yes, everything that happens to Jude happens to real people, but does it all ever happen to one singular person? Jude is abandoned in an alley as a baby, a child prostitute raped almost daily, a double amputee, has an eating disorder, performs serious self harm almost daily, and loses the love of his life in a car accident. But also, he’s a vastly wealthy and successful lawyer, an exquisite singer of Schubert’s lieder, a professional-grade baker, incredibly good-looking, is adopted as an adult by his ex professor and falls in love with his best friend of 30 years. <spoilers> The result is that the book feels preachy without actually being clear as to what it is preaching; are we to feel guilty that such horrors occur in the world? Empathy for this fictitious anomaly of a person who experiences it all? Grateful for our own normal struggles in life? I’m not sure, but this book was painful to read and without many benefits for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Body shaming, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Body horror, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Cursing, Excrement, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Car accident, Dysphoria, Gore, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

I was ready to give this book 1 star or maybe .5 star for it being an absolute trauma porn. And it still is, it's unimaginable the trauma that's been written in this book. Well not unimaginable but still gut wrenching and for most part, Hanya could have not dragged it this much. 

I give three stars because it's a very well written book. It's comprehensive, I think the beauty of this book is how it follows the life of the friends from their birth to their death. Not an excerpt taken from their life but their whole life. So, three stars for the writing, but zero stars for it being a trauma porn. 

Anyway, read it on your own discretion. I still cannot ascertain if I would recommend this book or not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Child death

Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, Addiction, Body shaming, and Body horror

Minor: Cancer

k_coston's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

0.25

I need the author in jail
I go into recommendations blind and all I heard was this made people on tiktok cry, so here is my review after listening to the audiobook for 3 months spoilers are present

1. there's a problem with how there was no care provided to Jude after he got outta his situation like Anya ow whatever her name was didn't set up any counseling after what he went and survived through???? OK, it seems fake, but ok

2. he's such a victim, like it's hard for me to feel sympathy when they unravel his story intermittently throughout the book . It explains why he's like that but it's just a me thing that I didn't like how the book was set up I almost would've wanted them to wait until the end to reveal what happened to him

3. I feel like the author was deriving pleasure how much she was dumping on Jude, like it was extremely hard to continue at times, and I would've dnfed if I was reading the actual book.  I feel like that experience with Dr trailer was completely unnecessary to the story like it was just like "again really we already did this with brother luke" while listening to it also the story of how the Dr got Jude needed to be explained more throughly

4. willem and Jude had respect for each other but not love like willem took advantage of Jude and that really disgusted me when we found out he suspected Jude didn't like having sex with him and he still subjected him to it? after already guessing he had sexual trauma, you did that to the person you supposedly loved most? actually, he didn't even respect him. You don't do that to people you love.

5. how does Jude have a backbone in only 1 area of his life? only work. on top of not having a backbone, he doesn't have a personality! he doesnt share anything about himself it seems like he's being pitied by everyone around him all the time, like he does not develop whatsoever from page one and I feel like I myself don't know anything about Jude other than he doesn't like himself but even after a while a victim has to take a stand for themselves and we're rooting for him to get some self esteem and it just never develops. if you don't have a backbone for yourself and for no one else, how are you supposed to stand the test of time? how are you supposed to take the rocks that life throw at you??? that's exactly why Caleb was allowed to do what he did to Jude and why Jude was always bound to kill himself in the end.

6. this is a book that doesn't have any character development in the slightest and I was holding out until the last moment that the author would do the humane thing and give Jude a happy ending but no.  it was a vile book of trauma porn with no resolution so you spend the entire book reading about unthinkable pain and suffering so much so that you start wanting him to die to put him out of his misery.

very cruel Hanya.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Torture, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Suicide, Gore, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, and Eating disorder

catarina187's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

This story is absolutely devastating. Even though I didn't know what awaited me before reading, I knew that this wasn't going to be a book like any other. And it definitely wasn't. This was the first and only book that made me cry, that made me suffer absurdly with the characters and that made me really feel the pain and confusion that was the life of each of them.

This story tells us, among other things, about abuse, violence and mistreatment, but also about someone who managed to overcome his weaknesses and insecurities, with a lot of support from those closest to him. This book touches on very delicate and sensitive topics and is not for everyone. However, I can say that this was one of the best books I've read, not only because of the raw and delicate way in which it was written, but because of each of the characters that appear in this book, each one being more imperfect than the other, but nevertheless, showing all your emotions, in all their splendor. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone, but I can say that this book completely changed the way I read and interpret the stories I read and changed my way of thinking a little.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Cancer, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Gaslighting, Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Infidelity

dragonsandfoxes's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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