Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Ein wenig Leben by Hanya Yanagihara

787 reviews

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

I haven’t read anything that has floored me as much as this did. All of the other reviews you have read will be right, it is traumatic and heavy and graphic, but I wasn’t prepared for the emotional journey i would be taken on alongside the shockingly graphic parts of the book. Spanning decades Yanagihara manages to weave and craft characters more complex than any other I have read, all the while maintaining a somehow humorous streak alongside everything else. What struck me and will stick with me most deeply from this book though were not the traumatic scenes, but the scenes of tender love, kindness and care shown between the friends and the other characters. These truly moved me and for that reason I can’t give it anything other than 5 stars! Definitely read, but yes, make sure you’re in a good space before you do!

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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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

UPDATED REVIEW: after reading more about the author and her intentions with this book...it went from a beautiful heartbreaking story of the power of love and kindness to a disgusting revelry in people she sees as "irredeemably broken."  This perspective shift churned up what was a 5 star book and spat it out as 2 stars for me.  I would only recommend this to people who are not nor have ever been depressed/suicidal and who want a prolonged, painful tearjerker.

Devastating, enrapturing saga. Heartbreaking, again and again. 

I think I appreciate this book so much because it made me feel. A lot. Frequently. I've never shed so many tears for a story. 

The depths of love, the talons of trauma. The beauty of lives woven together and the devastation when they are torn apart.

Honestly if you have any triggers whatsoever please think long and hard about whether it makes sense to read this. 

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

I wanted to DNF this book on several occasions but was curious to see how it would end. The ending was very fitting although not suprising.

The writing style was at times confusing for me due to the shift in POV and time lines.

I wanted to DNF due to the heaviness of the books and the pretentiousness of the characters.

The book itself is fine, although I would not recommend it to anybody. It is the first book that made me cry on several instances.

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challenging dark emotional funny 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

This book is very difficult to read because of how emotional it is. The writing is beautiful and very visionary, you can see the people and the places. A lot of characters and a lot of backstories which can be hard to keep up with but by the end you’re grateful that you got so much background. This has definitely changed my perspective on friendships and what makes a good friend. 

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challenging 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

a boring, repetitive, grinding little life.

the author said she doesn't believe in talk therapy and she spends 800 pages driving that "point" in. if that was her purpose this was definitely trauma porn. you are made to feel for this boy/man who had a terribly violent upbringing and she says nothing and no one could ever help him and he should just die.

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

Yanagihara‘s novel is incredibly well written and deeply immersive, pulling the reader into the painful and unhealthy trauma dynamics that its protagonists are trapped in.
Yet, I struggled with the excessively graphic depictions of violence and self harm, which at times felt voyeuristic rather than necessary and added little beyond shock value.
To underline the destructiveness of trauma, the narrative leans heavily into extremes—unparalleled cruelty and suffering as well as elite lifestyles inaccessible to most people—which strains the story‘s realism and feels emotionally manipulative.
Despite their high level of education the characters remain unreflectively caught in toxic dynamics that progressively blur the boundaries that exist in care, friendship and dependency.
All in all, while the prose is brilliant, the emotional and narrative excesses create a dissonance between powerful storytelling and trauma exploitation that ultimately pushes the novel across the line into emotional sensationalism.

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings