Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1691 reviews

camiraculous's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I don’t recommend this book to my friends or anyone, really. 
Or, read this book but you have to prepare yourself for a VERY emotional read.

I was nauseated, had to close my eyes on so many parts and had to take breaks because I couldn’t read through lyrics tears. I am in grief. 

Check the trigger warnings, and I can’t stress this enough. 

As I am writing this, I still have a hundred pages left, but I needed to sort my feelings before being even more in grief. 

It is book you can not put down but also a book that you have to put down to absorb the horror of it. 

I hated that book at some point, I thought «  why would I do that to myself? I can just put the book down » but no! I couldn’t because what I was reading couldn’t be final,

there had to be an end to all that suffering Jude went through!

But I loved it. The writing is flawless. I loved how seamlessly we could jump from one narration to another, or from a moment in time to another. 

I loved how some pieces of the story, important pieces, were only first mentioned in the latter half of the book. How we kept on discovering more and more about each character in a quite jarring manner. 

And, I need to talk about how much I loved the characters. 

My favourite one is Willem. I loved reading in his perspective, discovering his flaws and insecurities right after a chapter where he was described as the perfect friend by Jude. 

The first chapter we got with Malcolm (the only), I cried and was sad for two days. I related so much to that character, lost, and hopeless and not knowing what to do with his life even though he knows he has opportunities and capacity. Him not wanting do disappoint his parents but also not wanting to do as the pleased… I am at that place in my life, early twenties. And I think that if I re-read the book, maybe I will relate to other parts of the story.

I love books that make me take a big step back, rethink your priorities.

But as I said: I do not recommend this book. Or don’t blame me if you do read it and do not come out intact. (it’s crazy how people only read the stuff I forbid them to read). 

…

It took me ages to finish it because it is hard to read through tears. 

I still agree with my review previously written. I still love-hate this book and it’s characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death

ccoffeeapparently'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

monserrot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Gore, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Cursing, Vomit, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

ellen1196's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body shaming, Child abuse, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Rape

floord1's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Too much. Not enjoyable. Why would you read this? Why would you write this?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Medical content, Blood, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, and Pedophilia

kalyaniwarrier's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

*please look into the trigger warnings as they are not mentioned in the book*

in short, traumatising, long and tiring.

“‘Are you happy?’ he once asked Jude. ‘I don’t think happiness is for me’, Jude had said at last, as if Willem had been offering him a dish he didn’t want to eat. ‘But it’s for you, Willem.’”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Grief, Drug abuse, Torture, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

snapbackid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Drug abuse, Self harm, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, and Grief

gothdess'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, and Pedophilia

arthurwjones's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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: Rape, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, Medical trauma, and Vomit

kaitrc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

In the end, the story was really good. However, I don’t know if it was worth the trauma I endured reading it. The writing felt scattered, especially because it jumps around in time way too frequently. It took me longer to finish this book than any other book I’ve read: partly because it’s SOOO slow in the first half and partly because I had to take breaks to get through the especially traumatic parts. I would only recommend if you’re in the mood to sob for hours or if nothing can trigger you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Death, Physical abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Self harm, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Ableism