Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1016 reviews

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Horrifyingly beautiful and heart wrenching. Not a day will go by that I don’t think of Jude St Francis and Willem Ragnarsson. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I had to come in the park to write this review. I had to take myself out of the house because I was so broken down.
It is a very beautiful book... but I really hoped that at some point the misery will stop.
I had to buy an expensive tub of ice cream to cheer me up but even that didn't work. I couldn't eat the entire day.
I am really amazed with the profoundness and the accuracy of describing the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Please do not read this if you're emotional or ever so slightly sad in your day to day life. This is emotional torture... I just hope the weeks will pass quickly and the memories will be erased or at least faded from my mind.
I love Willem, I love Jude, Harold, Andy; I could see all them clearly as I was reading, and even wihout seeing him, I was fascinated by Jude's beauty. I will always listen to the song: "Hey Jude" thinking of Jude St Francis 💔

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging 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

A Little Life is a profound and brutal novel about childhood trauma and its lifelong consequences. Although slow, detailed, and lengthy, this novel will leave you yearning for more, and hesitant to leave the characters, which you got to know so intimately, behind, and your heart feeling as though it has been squished in a hydraulic press. This has easily become one of my favourite novels of all time, and is truly a modern classic, a necessary read.

P.S. please make sure to check content warnings from reviewers. The content warnings on the main StoryGraph page for this novel are lacking, and many people understate just how upsetting this novel can be.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Enthält geringfügige Spoiler
Der Schreibstil an sich ist ganz nett. Das Buch selbst finde ich aber aus vielerlei Hinsicht grässlich bzw. eine Zeitverschwendung. Die Geschichte ist, inhaltlich, unbewegt. Es endet, wie es anfängt. Jede der Figuren wurde in die Welt gesetzt, um aufgegeben zu werden. Jede Entwicklung, wenn es denn eine gab, wurde schlussendlich rückgängig gemacht, zumindest was die Hauptfiguren betrifft. Es kam mir vor, als wäre es schlechthin verboten, dass die Geschichte einer einzigen Person ein positives Ende nehmen dürfe.
Daraus würde ich eigentlich schließen, dass die Geschichte Hoffnungslosigkeit ausdrücken soll, die Hoffnungslosigkeit einer Person, die im Suizid endet. Dem ist jedoch nicht wirklich der Fall. Es werden im Verlauf, gerade Richtung Ende die Wünsche, die Innersten des Protagonisten verwirklicht und das Ergebnis ist dasselbe. Würde ich als suizidale Person dieses Buch lesen, würde es mich von einer einzigen sChe überzeugen. Es kann schlichtweg kein positives Ende für mich geben, es gibt keinen Ausweg, ich bin verloren. Denn selbst die Figuren, die zum Schluss nicht o. nicht durch ihre eigene Hand sterben, dürfen partout nicht glücklich sein (keiner bekommt sein happy-end, nicht einmal in kompromierter Weise). 
Das Buch empfinde ich als Hassrede auf das Leben, die Gesellschaft und ihre Instanzen und die Welt im Generellen, keinesfalls als eine literarische Bereicherung, geschweige als lit. Meisterwerk. 
Ich wollte bis zum Schluss nicht aufgeben, aber die Geschichte wollte sich einfach selbst ruinieren. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings