Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

68 reviews

alexjones_'s review against another edition

challenging 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

1.5

beautiful writing but the book could've been shortened if Yanagihara had been supportive of therapy.

also, I looked on loads of CW lists of this book and no one seemed to mention sex trafficking which was odd 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Torture

Moderate: Physical abuse, Body horror, Addiction, Blood, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Child death, Dementia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Drug use, and Racial slurs

this is the longest time I've ever had to spend on a trigger warnings list

cowardlyteaman'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This took me so long to read and annotate. It didn't feel like as much of a chore as I thought it would, but I still have mixed feelings about it.

I absolutely love the way these characters are built, to be honest. They all got on my nerves at different points, but I still cherished all of them. I really like it when flawed characters.🫶
Willem is wonderful, of course, but not perfect? He makes mistakes! He's selfish, even. Delusional, at points.
Jude has been through — more than most, to say the least. And to be completely frank, it gets old after a while. I get tired of hearing about his problems, and I get tired of reading about him falling into the same patterns over and over again. However, I'm sure he's just as tired as I am. Or far more, probably. When I realised this, it became easier to empathise with his character.
JB is such a wonderfully flawed character. He made me wince with second hand ... not even embarrassment, just pain. I love him, even if he's a crown dick at multiple points during the book.
Malcolm is just there, honestly. Emotional support architect. But I do love a homosexual who never manages to admit it.

However, there comes the problem ... that there is no plot. There is no plot whatsoever. There is no end goal, no ambition the characters have for the future. They just are.
Hadn't it been for the fact that I annotated and analysed this book (just for hobby), then I might have quickly discarded it...
The events are short and repetitive, and soon become extremely predictable.

Moving on to something slightly more off-track... the names.
Jude St. Francis is such a great name for a character. I love it so much. Fits him so well.
Willem Ragnarsson, however. Eh. As a Nordic person myself, I have to say that I'm a bit confused. He has a Danish mother and an Icelandic father who gave their son a Dutch name? It's by no means impossible, but William or Vilhjálmur or Wilhelm would've just made more sense? Don't even get me started on the fact that these two Swedish-speaking parents named their severely disabled son Hemming. In Norwegian (which in all honesty is not much different from Swedish), «hemming» means handicap. Hämning /hem-ning/ in Swedish. While I'm sure the author had no intention of this, it jus  seems absolutely ridiculous of them to name their child eith cerebral palsy Hemming. Not to mention that no-one's fucking named that in Denmark, Sweden, or Iceland.

That was my rant. It was worth it, despite the occasional drags of COMPLETELY irrelevant information.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Blood, Body shaming, Grief, Ableism, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

addi_gurl's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicide, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Death, Hate crime, Trafficking, and Pedophilia

queerhoney's review against another edition

challenging 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Self harm, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Body shaming, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual violence, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Cancer

lady_of_the_ulla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Ableism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

mercedes_bente's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Ableism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Self harm

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia, Hate crime, Racism, and Racial slurs

mari_vangberg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

Easiest 5⭐️ I have ever given. This book and these loveable characters will stay with me for a long time (probably forever), and it was such a beautiful and brutally painful story to read. A Little Life is a heavy book (in every sense of the word), but I did not find a single redundant word throughout its 814 pages. Truly a masterpiece!

Please look up the TWs for this book before reading it though, because there are a lot of them.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Medical content, Death, Kidnapping, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexual content, Ableism, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

rosiejode's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. Easily the most beautiful but most harrowing thing I’ve ever read. This book took me just under a month to read and I’m glad I spread it out over the month. It was so sad I can’t even express and I somewhat agree with the label ‘trauma porn’ that it’s been given by other people. I feel like this book will live with me for a while and I will miss all of the characters. I’d like to read it again over a shorter period of time, maybe next time I’m ready to weep uncontrollably 😢 read with caution ⚠️

9 days later - I still feel empty and can’t stop thinking about this book 😭

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Racism, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Addiction, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Sexual content

susannedeheer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I lived with this “little” life for some months, just as i read here more often, this story was part of my everyday life. The characters were so real, so well written, that it felt like i became one of them. At the same time was the writing always with some distance, the few moments in first person made this clear to me.
A Little Life asks the question what stories are meant for. And it is a good story, but the moment it crosses some line is the moment the story loses its essence or goal. For me ( and i think for almost everyone) it is the too much trauma for one persons life. A turned around deus ex machina who comes out of nowhere. And of course life can be cruel and uncertain, but can we just believe or pretend to believe when we’re reading stories?
I’m sad to leave them behind, but it feels finished, rounded and so i can actually move on. Their whole lives are on paper (even though it felt like they never get older, and still stay 20-something. So i will definitely read it when i’m older to see what the difference is)
I finished it just in time for the play by ITA. Very curious how they bring this cruel and beautiful life to the stage. It almost feels impossible, unreachable to bring these stories to life. The book is able to keep it at some distance, but i’m sure the realness on stage will bring some new heaviness to it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Child death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Pedophilia

auburn_phoenix_15's review against another edition

The book got too 'real' and has emotionally destroyed me. The situations were too traumatic and heart-wrenching that made it painful to read.

Might go back to it later...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Medical content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Vomit, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, and Eating disorder