Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

88 reviews

bandagedloser's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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: Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Suicide, Self harm, Mental illness, Grief, and Addiction

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Drug abuse, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent and Dementia

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Abandonment, Dementia, Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Sexual assault, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship

kayleighr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Body shaming, Grief, Self harm, Car accident, Classism, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Pedophilia, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Suicide, Stalking, Child abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

fabycamurugy'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pedophilia, Cursing, Dementia, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Classism, Child death, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Drug use, Child abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Torture

szucker6's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

This is obviously not a book one “enjoys,” but it wasn’t until the last third of the book that I felt immense appreciation for the story and truly drawn in. At times I wanted to rate it two stars, but the end was so strong so I’m going to say 3 for now. Still processing…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Ableism, Body horror, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, and Fatphobia

Minor: Infidelity and Cancer

I have never selected so many trigger warnings for one book

beccabookworm'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

3.0

This is the most tragic and emotionally draining book I've ever read. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing or as something that counts against my rating of the book. In a Vulture article the author wrote about the book, she basically says that she sought to write a tragic novel that gets darker and sadder and more "sick" (her word) as the narrative progresses. I think she succeeded in that. In fact, although I found myself getting frustrated with and fatigued by all the constant tragedy, knowing that that was the author's intentions actually raises the book in my estimation because it shows the skill of the writer to create exactly what she set out to create.

Of course, there's no way to know - unless you read interviews and reviews before reading the book - the extent of the tragedy and darkness, or that it progresses the way it does. That said, while I understand the "tragedy porn" comments, I don't agree with the sentiment behind them. Maybe it is tragedy porn, but so what? It's supposed to be. While this novel is a portrait of a life and set in the real world, I don't think it's meant to be true and authentic to life and a conceivably real person's story. Some positive reviewers have held this novel up as a beautiful and honest portrait of queer men's lives. Maybe I don't have a right to say this because I'm not a queer man, but I don't agree with that either. I think the goal of writing a book wherein everything gets darker and more tragic as it progresses and never really gets light again save for brief sparks of fading light is contradictory to writing an honest portrait of life. Yes, people live tragic lives and it doesn't always get better, but life ebbs and flows and there's usually some hope to latch onto. Whether or not you believe that hope is futile, there is still hope.

That is not the case in this story. It is almost a complete downward trajectory with tiny blips of peace or semblances of happiness. The longest section is called "The Happy Years" and most of that section is not happy. You feel that happiness towards the end of the section, but then the section ends with a terrible, last straw, throw-the-book-across-the-room-in-anger thing happening. The very existence of Jude as a character (though not to discount anyone who's lived through horrible experiences) presents a kind of over-the-top tragedy when applied to a single person. Almost every extreme violent trauma he could be subjected to, he was. For those reasons, this book is not, to me, reflective of real life big picture. So, it should not be read/reviewed that way. From my understanding, it's just supposed to be a sad book for the sake of being sad. The fact that it succeeds in that is, to me, commendable.

There were some elements I really didn't like, particularly some of Yanagihara's treatment of race and sexuality. This includes the early insinuation that "real Haitians" in New York were so perpetually poor that they would and could never rent out an art studio space separate from their living space; Malcom lamenting not being Black enough because he didn't see himself as a wounded, perpetually angry victim; Harold's assertion that the 13th amendment is the remains of politics past and, therefore, not sexy enough to write about (which I admittedly don't even know what that means); Harold enjoying provoking JB to make "outrageous and borderline racist statements," which means JB was all too ready to make such statements; and presenting no counter to characters insisting that Willem is gay when he starts dating Jude, completely ignoring his decades of dating and sexual history with all the women he's loved and slept with in long-term relationship and casual hookups. Yes, Yanagihara is a brilliant writer for writing this story the way she wanted to, but she also wrote characters who are really crappy people. They're not even crappy in an entertaining and redeemable way - they just suck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Medical trauma, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, and Ableism

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity, Dementia, and Biphobia

jadenlmhaynes's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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

3.25

This is a good book, really beautifully written and with some loveable characters. But, it definitely does not need to be this long. Some passages are so drawn out, it seems only to hit a particular word count, at times. Also, as many people rightly say, this book covers just about every trigger warning I can think of. But the combination of horrific scenes and drawn out passages makes trauma almost sensationalised in this book. Similarly to hitting a word count, it is as if Hanya Yanagihara was trying to hit every possible traumatic incident possible, for some kind of sensationalism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Rape, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, Homophobia, and Pedophilia

mariaviola's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Dementia, Homophobia, Racism, Vomit, and Abandonment

melisayasilem's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

You could say that none of the characters -who you become very much attached to by the way- deserve what happens to them. You feel what they feel, go through what they go through. I knew what I was getting myself into before I began reading this book, but it still hits you hard. I didn't find myself as affected as others whom I've seen their reviews saying nobody should read this book because it is f'ed up- and this could be because I read this over a period of months instead of a couple days or even weeks. Regardless, it still succeeded to leave a deep impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment, Child death, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Excrement

Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Car accident, Confinement, Excrement, and Outing

This book is not for the weak, it gets very graphic in some chapters and you might have to put it down for a bit. But it also makes you want to continue reading because you get very attached to the characters. Sexual assault and suicidal thoughts are very much present, to the point where you sometimes have to think hard to understand why the character thinks that way.

violairgendwas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Toxic relationship