Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

10 reviews

sim_pum's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Medical content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Drug use, Body shaming, Grief, Addiction, Rape, and Vomit

megque's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

I love this gut wrenching, terribly upsetting book. It is very raw, human, and emotional. This book is about trauma and how trauma affects us so deeply in ways that can be healed, and in ways that can never be healed. This book puts to words what all of us feel sometimes but may not be able to describe. Feelings of the terror of receiving help, terror of the ones we love knowing what we are most ashamed of, but the themes of shame are the shame that are not the victims fault. Feelings of wanting to help so bad but not being able to because the recipient refuses to accept. Feelings of that complicated dynamic of needing someone but not being able to let them in. Feelings of truly being alone, but also feelings of those who understand each other the most and how that can alleviate the burden or being alive. I love this book so much. I love the way it makes me feel, cry, grieve, feel proud of the characters, relate to the characters. I love crying and grieving the characters in the book because I am crying and grieving everyone I see in them, including myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Torture, Addiction, Biphobia, Bullying, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

DO NOT read this book if any of the content/trigger warnings are very real triggers or upsetting to you. It is not worth it if you are sensitive to the content and will be harmed by the content because it is very explicit.

lexiemartin878's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Bullying, Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Torture, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

VEEY VERY heavy read trigger warnings before reading please please please

stitchbooks22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

This book was heartbreaking with beautiful writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Outing, Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness

litah's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

read if you want to cry

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Child abuse, Car accident, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Addiction, Hate crime, Grief, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Body horror, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Drug use, Abandonment, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

soumya_singhal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Colonisation, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship

liliandra's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Trigger Warnings:
Abuse
Drug Use
Harassment
Child Abuse
Suicide
Self Harm
Racial Slurs
Racism
Homophobia
Misscommunication
Forced Prostitution
Rape
Beating
Pedophilia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Grief

carlacea'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

4.0

before you start reading this book, i encourage you to make a list with all the bad things that could happen to someone. as some of those things happen, go back to your list and try to make it a bit more light-hearted because as the book goes on you will need it. 
a very dark story, but with shines of light in between. i wouldn't say is an enjoyable experience but at least it wasn't as graphic as i thought it was going to be when i read some reviews from the book. 
the next part might be consired a spoiler but it doesn't say anything really explicit, no names involved, but if you want everything to be a surprise...

one thing that i didn't like is how the author used romance to bring happiness, self assurance and healing to the characters, when i thought the book was going to be more about friendship. there is friendship in this couple, but i would've prefered if the same trust and reliability and inconditional acceptance had been shown through the light of friendship.

btw sorry if i made any mistakes grammatically or something, english isn't my first language

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Bullying, Vomit, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, and Racism

lottevanelst's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

Such a beautifully written and heartbreaking book. Had a hard time getting through it in the beginning but couldn’t put it away after a while. Too heavy and triggering to recommend to anyone. It made my cry so many times and at the end I couldn’t even breath properly out of emotion. 

The best book I’ve read this year. But too painful to recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

buckys_plum'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? It's complicated

5.0

i had not known sadness and pain since before that book
hardest 2 weeks of my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Cancer, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Vomit, and Violence