Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

21 reviews

readerinthedale's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

This was an impressive book from a critical perspective- Hanya Yanagihara created an immersive alternate universe through this fictional biography. It is  realistically arranged and structured to appear as a nonfiction book, which is amazing especially for a debut novel. Unfortunately our main character is awful. He is intentionally a bad person, but reading his autobiographical account of his crimes, actions, and opinions is at times overwhelmingly off-putting. I often had to put the book down and struggled to pick it back up because his thoughts were so disgusting. I am glad to have finished and was impressed by this work overall, but at the same time I hated it because I hated Norton. In this case it is a sign of a successful work by the author, but also an unpleasant feeling as a reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Colonisation, Dementia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Excrement, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting

graceclawson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide

msrt's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Dementia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

belleb0y's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.25

This was a hard read it is dark and you don’t want to like it but it sticks with you. It’s been awhile and I still think about this book often. But overall it was way too long and yanagihara knows how to make people uncomfortable just for the sake of it. Major major tw for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Medical content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

aruallal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Rape, Terminal illness, and Sexual assault

burnt_amber89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It is hard to say that I loved this book, but I think I did, in a twisted kind of way. At least, I loved to hate it. It took a while to get into the story and even when it gets really good, the book feels long. The first 100 or so pages failed to impress me, but it gets much better later on so hang tight ! At the beginning, we get to follow the main character in his youth. He is particularly unlikable, most situations are rather dull and don't seem to bring anything. Be prepared for some graphic and disturbing descriptions of animal abuse and death, several times throughout the book. 
When the character starts his adventure on the island, however, even through I still found him insufferable (and misogynistic), I thought that the prose and the world-building were absolutely gorgeous, albeit still sprinkled with some graphic details here and there, that sometimes seem a little gratuitous. I loved following their adventures, had gotten really attached to the "dreamers", and could really visualize every plant, flower, creature, character... that the author imagined.
The last part of the novel is enthralling, I really felt strongly simultaneously for and against Vi, and continued to detest Perina, while also understanding, somehow, where he comes from. 
Hanya Yanagihara really has a knack for describing the most dreadful things in a beautiful way that brings out so much emotion in the reader.
I initially thought that the numerous footnotes would be a hassle to read and I thought I would skip them, but I ended up usually really enjoying them. It turned out to be an effective way of adding content and context, even though skipping then probably wouldn't alter the experience either. 
Overall, this is a very unique experience that I would not recommend to anybody, but if you like being challenged, if you want something both unpleasant and gorgeous and if you are ready to tackle the numerous, numerous trigger warnings, then you should probably give it a try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, and Trafficking

jemima_branson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Dementia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

mmatti300's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I definitely didn’t expect to give this a five star, even though a little life was one of the easiest five stars I’ve ever given out. But, this book blew me away. Hanya Yanagihara knows how to screw with a persons emotions in such a gentle, disturbing way. While a little life had me sobbing every 40 pages, this one had me feeling sick and confused. This is not the sad, gay, literary fiction trauma porn that a little life is. This is sad, science heavy, Lolita esque in parts, and an interesting pondering on humanity and the lengths we will go to to satiate or inner demons. It covered so much and while I am not a huge fan of memoirs (and the beginning sections read like my least favorite parts of memoirs) that was the perfect way to include this unreliable, twisted character. Like a little life, this book is not for everyone and maybe not even for most but I really enjoyed it (but it’s for a whole different subsection of people than a little life). If I had to describe it as a mixture of different classics written by white men id say it’s like Joseph Conrad’s the heart of darkness meets Lolita. So, if that’s the type of weird and sad and dark you like this book is perfect for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Suicide, Trafficking, Colonisation, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Forced institutionalization

meganm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

This dark book will stick with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Ableism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Sexism, and Misogyny

tree_hugging_ginge's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia