Reviews tagging 'Murder'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

24 reviews

ghostpuppy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

I hate this book and i love this book. 

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Content Warnings

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

toochmarone's review against another edition

I read 500 pages of this, and am just tired of the torture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Rape, Suicide, Trafficking, Murder, Alcoholism, Bullying, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Addiction, Gore, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

trayana's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

birdghosting's review

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? Yes

4.5

This is a book that will stay with you for a very long time, for better or for worse. It seems you either love or hate this book, and I came out loving it (even though I ugly cried through over 20% of it—and it's a long book).

As someone who usually reads fantasy and not much set in the real world, I could not put this book down once I got past the introductory section. It was very easy for me to get attached to Jude, who the entire book revolves around (I didn't even realize when starting that this is mainly his story). I was rooting for him the entire way through, desperately wanting to know more about him at each turn as it would offer me something new as a treat.

The characters all felt like they lived real and true lives, and written to perfectly match how you're meant to feel about them in that moment. Even certain characters who I loved the whole way through made errors that I hated reading about, thought to myself that I wouldn't forgive someone doing that to me—and that's life. The relationships everyone has with each other, not just with Jude, are the strongest part of the book.

I'm not used to reading such long prose, but it was very enjoyable. I did have several moments where I would start reading one sentence and get lost among the different branching off thoughts and ideas the single sentence goes through, and I'd have to return to the beginning of the sentence to remember what it was meant to be about. This would also happen with chapters, which would sometimes go into a completely different topic than where we first started before finally circling back around. There was also a lot of academic and legal talk that made me wish I were going back to university, and I didn't have a good mind map of the locations and geography talked about, which makes me curious if someone who knows New York well would be able to picture it clearly.

I think about this story at least once a day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Stalking, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Grief, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Torture, Drug use, Gaslighting, Blood, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Classism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

__saint__'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Death, Rape, Torture, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Gore, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Ableism

sisirasage's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

0.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Body shaming, Trafficking, Body horror, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Grief, Homophobia, and Sexual content

kaalgary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

A lot of trigger warnings, don't read if you're sad, depressed, or not in a good place right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Child death, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Bullying, Trafficking, Torture, Emotional abuse, Rape, Vomit, Mental illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Addiction, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Sexual violence, and Suicide

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.

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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

binderjo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Car accident, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body shaming, Bullying, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

jeffrey's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Ableism, Car accident, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Physical abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Slavery