Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

453 reviews

a_tanya's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Unnecessarily tragic, almost comical.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Car accident, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

arthurwjones's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, Medical trauma, and Vomit

rowy148's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Car accident, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Drug abuse, and Ableism

sydmat03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

phenomenal. hanya ate and left no crumbs. nothing else

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

parkerjm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping, Rape, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Infertility, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Ableism, Blood, Addiction, and Alcohol

featherinthewind'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can’t. Actually. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Vomit, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Ableism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

mccullah'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: Self harm, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Vomit, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, and Violence

daniliff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

In good conscience, I can’t tell anyone to read this. It literally took every content warning and blew it out of the water (in all the categories literally). At times it was incredibly hard to read because it was sickeningly dark. 

That said, I couldn’t put this down and I do think it was spectacular. The imagery in my head was of taffy - she took lives and stretched them to their most extremes. By putting the characters through most impossibly perfect things that can happen and the most impossibly horrific things that can happen, you’re left with emotion so deep that I don’t think I’ve ever had it from a book before. I very frequently questioned what the hell is wrong with her to do some of this to characters and I sobbed. But I had to think that it had to be balanced with the impossibility of the extreme positives, too. 

I get why everyone warned me. And it’s LONG. But I’m glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Addiction, Car accident, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Abandonment, Blood, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Body shaming, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, and Grief

jacobandthefrogs's review

Just actual torture, I truly don’t know what would make her write this book but I hope she has been able to heal from it because I don’t think I will

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Rape, Racial slurs, Death, Ableism, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Suicide attempt, Racism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Outing, Homophobia, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Dysphoria

cari_'s review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

This is a wonderfully written book about terrible things. It's characters are rich and explored deeply enough for readers to develop a strong connection to them, which makes the terrible things worse. There are people who I would never recommend this book to, and I would suggest looking up content warnings before delving in if you are prone to triggers. It is not without flaws, but it affected me deeply (for better or worse).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Rape, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Body shaming

Minor: Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Kidnapping