Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

138 reviews

lsdthoughts'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Abandonment, Dementia, Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Sexual assault, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship

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

purpleshamrock's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Child death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Physical abuse

grboph's review against another edition

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

3.5

Wow. I think it's going to take me a while to process this one. It was, without a doubt, one of the best-written books I've ever read, and I hardly ever feel emotions about stories and their characters as acutely and strongly as I did here. The characters were also incredibly well-thought-out and memorable. However, I do feel that most of its plot was just eight hundred pages of the most horrible, trauma-porn-y things imaginable happening to absolutely everybody involved. I definitely did not enjoy reading this book in the traditional sense - I finished it because I wanted it to be over, and knew the bad things were coming but couldn't stand not knowing exactly what they were. Even with this, the last hundred or so pages were the hardest to get through of the entire book because I knew exactly what was coming, and I almost wish it had stopped at the end of the "Dear Comrade" section because then things would have been a bit more ambiguous and I could have feasibly imagined that the book would end happily. In short, I'm not mad I read this book, and I know I'll be thinking about its characters for a long time to come. I'm also definitely going to read more of Yanagihara's books in the future because the strong emotions I felt while reading this book are really a testament to how amazing of a writer she is. However, I don't think I'll ever read this book again or recommend it to anyone else, just because I don't think I could put myself or anyone else through that degree of emotional pain again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide, Ableism, Eating disorder, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Chronic illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child death, Addiction, Gore, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Stalking, Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, Infidelity, Classism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Outing

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

riannesdijkstra's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

This HURTS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity

Read the trigger warnings. It's such a powerful heartbreaking book, but please do not read if it is triggering for you!

aaliya87's review against another edition

dark sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Sexual assault, Self harm, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Suicide, Rape, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Child death, Ableism, and Drug use

caitlynhm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• 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: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Eating disorder, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

maddie_kawnak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

hvokey'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Kidnapping, Addiction, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child death, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Rape, Medical trauma, Death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Car accident, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Vomit, Terminal illness, Racism, Hate crime, Sexual content, Torture, Infidelity, and Drug use