Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

3264 reviews

0325film'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

what really is the meaning of life according to the author...? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

meg_lay11'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

Still crying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

paddles1704's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

1.5

 I didn’t cry, in the end. 

The pain swelled to a crescendo up until that final page, with an echo of hope that wasn’t really hope at all. I can see why someone would have been sad, but I felt numb and angry. I feel, now, that I wish I could just forget everything about it. 

If the purpose of the novel was to tell me that pain exists, and some people can’t handle it, can’t escape it, I didn’t need that written in over 700 pages. I have read about pain before, but worse, I have felt pain, I have met people and loved people in pain.

To spare you reading it yourself - Jude’s friends die meaninglessly and accidentally, Jude dies purposely and tragically, and after feeling bad for how he has treated those around him and refusing their help and acting horribly again and again, he leaves them behind to wonder what they could have done differently. So it is, with suicide.

Hanya Yanagihara wrote the ending, as an acceptable end to a life of suffering, which she spent 720 pages trying to convince me was too much. Trying to convince me that there is some measure of suffering which can be deemed ‘too much’, and that asking people to live beyond that line is selfish of me. Deciding not to live beyond that line is acceptable, as if they have earned it, somehow. 
 

What sort of ending is that? 
What hope does that offer the sufferer?
What meaning does that offer those who love people suffering? 

As I said – if the purpose of the book was to acknowledge pain, to flesh it out and describe it beautifully, ‘A Little Life’ does no more than walk someone to the edge of despair and leave them there. 

Perhaps there is no purpose – perhaps you are simply meant to cry, and feel something, and then close the book and put it back on the shelf. 

Either way, it was a waste of my time. 

Full review here: https://christianpears.wordpress.com/2024/09/15/on-writing-pain-a-little-life-review/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

mscoleman's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide

kramaknome's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Death

pikkumarja's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Tunnen ristiriitaisesti tästä kirjasta. Proosa Pienessä elämässä on kaunista. Se on yksityiskohdissaan pyörteilevää ja jotenkin kiusallisen tarkkanäköistä. Tunsin oloni epämukavaksi, koska halusin jatkaa lukemista, vaikka se tuntui tirkistelyltä. Rakastin ihmissuhteiden kuvauksia ja erityisesti Willemiä ja Juliaa. Näiden asioiden takia matalampi arvosana ei tunnu oikeutetulta, mutta on sanottava, että jo aloittaessani lukemista olin kriittisenä liikenteessä.

Mutta onhan tämä vähän liikaa. Yksityiskohtaiset kuvaukset itsetuhoisuudesta, tuhon graafisuus ja ylipäätään queerihmisten kärsimys oli turhan mittavaa. Yksittäisenä kirjana queerkärsimys vielä menisi, mutta laajempana ilmiönä (ja koska tämäkin kirja on osa laajempaa kirjallisuuden kokonaisuutta ja kulttuuria) queerit saavat kärsiä liikaa. Ei tämä silti ole ansainnut syytöksiä traumapornosta tai epäuskottavalla trauman määrällä. Maailma ei ole reilu ja jotkut ihmiset joutuvat kärsimään enemmän kuin on inhimillisesti mahdollista. Kehotan todella lukemaan sisältövaroitukset ajan kanssa, jos et kestä joitain teemoja.

Yanagihara onnistuu luomaan todella painavan tunnelman kerronnallaan. Kirja jää varmasti elämään mielen perukoille pitkäksi aikaa monestakin syystä.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

minisaucisse's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Strange book. I loved that it was long and that you could feel time past. It made me think a lot. However in the end I felt the last pages draged on, and also why do they have to be so filthy rich ?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

faxmachinemax's review against another edition

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

3.75

This is the first 800 page book i have read in a WHILE. A little life is one of those books that stays with you for a long time. The biggest thing i would say is that this book is not for the faint of heart. The graphic descriptions of incredibly triggering topics almost felt as though it was for the shock factor, and at times, seemed completely unnecessary. (Also the complete denial of mental illness?? That was WILD)
Jude is one of characters that genuinely deserves so much better that the reader cant help but love, and the relationships he makes with his friends throughout the story is amazing and feels genuine. 
While i enjoyed this book, this is one of the very few books i will not recommend. Its unnecessarily graphic, and sometimes those are the only scenes that have descriptions. Its almost just a 800 page trauma dump.
Otherwise, its a good book, but not one i will be reading again.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abandonment

jaydenmosher's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

maria_thebookworm's review against another edition

challenging 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

“But what was happiness but an extravagance, an impossible state to maintain, partly because it was so difficult to articulate?” 

I didn't even rate this book because it is one of those books that is SO challenging to rate. The writing is gorgeous but the book is very slow, especially in the beginning. I decided to read this one because I kept seeing the book everywhere, along with reels of people crying while reading it. I became very curious. 

"A Little Life" is about four male friends in NYC,  their struggles, and their heartbreaks. The book specifically focuses on Jude, the main character, and the trauma and abuse in his past that he never recovers from. 

If you are someone who is triggered by detailed descriptions of sexual and physical abuse, along with graphic descriptions of self-harm, I do NOT recommend this book. It is very graphic and can be very hard to read. 

I read this book very, very slowly. I don't recommend trying to breeze through this one. This book took me about a month. It is over 700 pages, composed significantly  of very long, detailed descriptions. It was full of many new vocabulary words. I would say that the book could definitely be a few hundred pages shorter; I typically don't like long books. 

This book was extremely emotionally draining. I didn't cry (I'm not a crier when it comes to books), but I kept having to pause towards the middle and end of the book to just process how terrible Jude's life got. I had to take many moments to try to process the truly unimaginable horrors. Prepare to be traumatized, as Yanagihara does not hold back in terms of detailed descriptions of self-harm or abuse. 

Without spoiling the book, I will say that Jude feels guilty and undeserving of any good and love that comes to him, which intensifies his feelings of guilt and shame. He fears people using and abusing him, even his friends and those close to him. He is afraid to believe that anything good can happen to him.  

Despite many painful portions, the book details hope, love, and friendship. Jude learns what love actually means in people who never give up on him. 

This book teaches the beauty of friendship, loving and sometimes getting nothing in return,  forgiveness, and the concept that trauma does not have to define your life. 

I recommend this book if you are looking for an intense, sad, once in a lifetime read. 

“But then, didn’t everyone only tell their lives – truly tell their lives – to one person?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting