Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Ein wenig Leben by Hanya Yanagihara

1611 reviews

sapphoxes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

As sad and traumatic as everyone says it is. Can ramble on at times, but not in a way that’s detrimental to the book. The kind of story where you’ll have to put it down and take breaks. It was described to me as an essential gay read, but I didn’t see it that way. 

The story, to me, was largely about abuse and how it can bleed out from what happens to one person throughout their life and into the lives of the people around them; how it can spread. Yes, I believe abuse to be a part of the queer community in a way that historically it is not in the straight community (speaking as a queer woman), but I do not think of abuse as the sole most important aspect of queerness or even queer history. This is all to say that yes, the characters are queer, and yes, abuse is prevalent,  but a story about queer people being abused does not automatically define it as a book about queerness. If anything, I found it to be more about the abuse of the disabled, be that mentally or physically, and how abuse in childhood will inevitably follow a person into not just their adult life but the lives of everyone they keep close. 

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cassiopeiacaeli's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

Just because a book is sad, doesn't mean it is good.

On a purely craft level, it annoys me. This entire book is supposed to be character-driven, but the characters are either incredibly bland or incredibly unbelievable. Jude especially annoyed me. His backstory started off sad, but eventually got so laughably outlandish that I couldn't even care about how much he suffered. This book is only suffering. Half of the content warnings/triggers available on this app included on this one book.

This book also just makes me so angry. What was the point of writing this? What message was the author intending to send? Regardless of what message Yanagihara intended, the message actually told in the book was that eventually a depressed person's suffering gets to the point where their only option is to kill themself. What kind of message is that. Why is it being praised. I find it especially interesting that Yanagihara has not done a single but of research on the heavy topics she deals with, but that she is seemingly proud of her lack of research.

This book and all of Yanagihara's other books are about gay men who get abused and suffer. The best descriptor I can come up for Yanagihara is Fujoshi. Not in the more modern definition of the term as one for someone who enjoys a lot of bl, but the original meaning of a Fujoshi: a straight woman who fetishizes gay men. Yanagihara only writes about the suffering of gay men. Something which she has both not experienced and not researched. Honestly, if this book was adapted into an anime or manga, it's plot would fit perfectly with other badly written yaoi.

Was this book sad? Yes. Does its plot and message hold any value (to me)? No. 

This book disgusts me.

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nrougely's review against another edition

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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

3.5

Im devastated and grateful to have read it

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iiheartmariah's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative 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

4.0


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missmethven's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

3.0


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dominika_benmichael's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0


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sage_3's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

i tried so hard to not read this book. to never pick it up. i couldnt :). and now after finishing it i feel so empty from inside. i cried a lot while reading the last 3 chapters. i cried at the ending of it. and now i wanna cry again at the thought that i cant read more of it because i finished it but there are no more tears left in me. i would be sobbing on the floor right now if i could get my tears to form. but alas. i cant in good conscience recommend this to anyone because i think no one should ever read this book. if you decide to read it still just know that when people were telling you it’s heavy and were crying on the internet because of it, it wasnt a marketing strategy. 

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sallyrooneystanclub's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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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whenthepawnhits's review against another edition

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

5.0

WHAT THE FUCK IM GENUIENLY SHOCKEF? I HAD HOPE!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭

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shakedown1994's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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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