Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

79 reviews

oops_i_read_it_again's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Suicide, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Classism, Dysphoria, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

egna's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

4.25

Beautiful writing, bloody depressing. Best read in chunks with large pauses in between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Ableism, Body shaming, Rape, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Biphobia, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

jillianalice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

I will be thinking about this book for the rest of my life. Definitely don’t read this if you are not doing well mentally, like I did. 

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE TITLE???

The only time “a little life” is said in the book is when Brother Luke tells Jude to have a “a little life” while being raped.

So many layers to that…. I’m a bit too disgusted to analyze it but maybe it’s a metaphor for how Jude is constantly trying to have a bit more life left in him. That phrase alone also had a ginormous impact on his approach to sex. The air of those words followed him into the bedroom and into his romantic relationship to Willem. He could never be truly authentic or vulnerable after that. 


It’s been a week since I finished it and it’s still too raw to review. The author is incredible because I fell so in love with Jude, Willem, Harold, and Andy that I felt sad for days following the ending. I cried too many times that it is embarrassing to admit. 

I have a complicated opinion on whether or not this book is trauama-porn. In the first 3/4 of the book I saw her vision, of showing how trauma follows you into every crevice of your life. And sometimes people don’t recover, no matter how well their life turns out or how many people love them. And their stories deserve to be told…. BUT I think she could have gotten her point across without Dr. Traylor… or the abhorrent severity of Caleb’s actions. At first I thought she approached the events in a respectful manner, but it was not necessary to describe the Caleb event so graphically. Or the self-harm scenes in such vivid detail. So I understand why this book is criticized as being trauma porn, she went a bit overboard. 

I do wish that Malcom and JB’s stories were told more. She depicted JB’s addiction so well, I think she could have explored it further. Malcom’s struggle with his sexuality and racial identity was also very intriguing, but not expanded on. 

I did love how deliberate her use of words is and lyrical that it is so easy to immersive yourself in their world. She described the complicated psyche and emotions of human beings so well. As someone who loves character driven novels, this was perfect. I highly doubt I will ever read a book that pierces me so deeply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Grief, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Torture, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Abandonment, Blood, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, Trafficking, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

tmickey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Infidelity

clevelandbookgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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: Domestic abuse, Medical content, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Biphobia, Alcohol, and Homophobia

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

This book is absolutely wretched (derogatory), for a plethora of reasons. In no particular order and to varying degrees of fucking awfulness: 

• The fatphobia: this book constantly ridicules fat persons, both in the language that is used to craft their existence, or in the way that these characters are treated by others (see: JB). 
• The transphobia: in one scene, a side character is having, what is presumed to be, a transitioning party. At no point within the text does the author nor the characters switch their use of pronouns after learning this. 
• The friendships: I've heard people talk MANY times about how this book is such a good marker of friendship. It is not. The friendships in this book are unhealthy, borderline abusive. The characters hold their friends on pedestals, refusing to see any flaws from their friends. The OTHER OPTION is that the characters view their friends suffering and flat out, selfishly refuse to see past it, as if nothing is wrong.
• The depiction of queer relationships: Yanagihara disgusts me. The constant depiction of MLM relationships as something "wrong", as something "disgusting" eventually culminating to Queer tragedy felt so utterly wrong. She did not handle Queer issues with any grace, instead choosing to force trauma upon trauma upon Queer characters
• The trauma: at a certain point in the book, I started to roll my eyes at the amount that Jude suffered. Not because he deserved it, but because each time the reader thinks things might get to a place that is okay, Yanagihara thrusts something in the readers faces, as if to say "NO! LOOK! LOOK! ACTUALLY IT"S JUST BAD!" I don't fucking care that she intended this book to be a reflection of cherishing life's happy moments. What came across was horrendous. 
• The self harm: after a number of repetitions, the self harm in the book felt so fucking blasè. Yes we know this character is harming themselves. why the fuck did you feel the need to detail every single tiny detail of it. every. single. time. To what purpose does this serve but to the author's disgusting twisted sense of shock value. 

I don't know why i finished this book. I truly don't. I'm reevaluating the last couple days of my life and the use of my free time. Don't read this book. If you're looking for depictions of trauma on a similar scale but with ACTUAL meaning and purpose within a story, just read The Poppy War for christssake. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Biphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Outing, Body horror, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Dysphoria, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Gore

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

sw317's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Ableism, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Vomit

leakaroo's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Originally rated this 4 stars. On reflection, I think I actually despise this book and would not recommend it ever (people who recommend this casually are INSANE)

I have so many problems with this book and I could go on forever, but I'll just point out the things that I don't think enough people talk:

1. There's two characters (Asian Henry Young and Black Henry Young) which just.... what? I thought the whole debacle about them having the same name was COMPLETELY useless. They don't drive the plot in any major way and there's no purpose for them to have the same name. For what reason was this a thing? Because it definitely wasn't for humour or for some commentary or whatever. Like... there's no point in them having the same name.

2. Willem and Jude's relationship. God where do I start. I really love how Willem supported Jude as a friend, but it should've stopped at friendship. I started to dislike Willem's character in the end, because he has sex with Jude KNOWING Jude probably suffered SA/trauma in the past (Idk which page it was, but theres a part where Willem acknowledges he knows that Jude doesn't want to have sex with him, however the desires in him override that concern. (This is BEFORE Jude opens up about his childhood)). The sexual aspect of their relationship was so uncomfortable and frustrating and made me feel sick. Idk. I wish Yanagihara researched asexuality (which Jude obviously was) and bisexuality (which Willem probably was), because it left me frustrated that they were not properly addressed/discussed.

3. Going on from the previous point, this is a book essentially about gay trauma (?) but none of the characters ever label themselves as gay, or at least queer. That's the part that mainly leads me to feel like it's gay fetishisation because Yanagihara is placing Jude in these horrible situations and yet the exploration of sexuality isn't really a theme in the book.

4. Everyone's negligence of Jude. Andy, Harold and Willem clearly supported Jude, but were still being extremely negligent towards Jude. Andy threatens multiple times that he would have Jude committed into a psych ward.... so um.... why didn't he? I fail to understand why Andy continued to allow Jude to self harm, plus even after his suicide attempt, he was allowed to just go back home after he got physically better. HE NEEDED A THERAPIST PLEASEEEEEEE!!!! Andy and Harold and lowkey villains but the book and readers refuse to call it out.

5. Lastly, if EVERY SINGLE thing in this book stayed the same EXCEPT that Jude was a woman, this book would not be loved so much. I am CONVINCED the only reason A Little Life is THIS popular, is because the disgusting, heavy trauma is being inflicted on a "gay" man. This is not so much a critique of the book rather than a critique of the readers who refuse to see the hypocrisy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Ableism, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Racism

__thalia__'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

not for everyone

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Biphobia, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Terminal illness