Reviews

Une vie comme les autres by Hanya Yanagihara

Only show reviews with written explanations

catalina_sigrid's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

dana_m202's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

asaph95's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I've had a good 12 hours to clear my thoughts and I honestly still don't know where to start with this review.

I just want to put this out there though, please please look up trigger warnings before you go into this book. This book is heavy, sad and generally heartbreaking to read for multiple reasons. I don't know why there's such a big push in the online book community for everyone to read this book because honestly, it is not for everyone. I cannot recommend this book to anyone because I don't fucking want anyone to read this book and be fucking scarred from it. Read a happier book.

Trigger Warnings -

Spoiler

Child abuse, Child molestation, Drug abuse, Domestic violence/abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Prostitution, Rape, Self harm, Sexual abuse, Suicide

That being said, this book was fucking haunting. I love love love Willem & Jude, they were the cutest & best characters in the book. A special mention to Harold & Andy too though.

There were times where I wanted to throw this book in an incinerator and burn the shit out of it. There were times where I was reading and was genuinely angry at what was happening. I was fuming, I was hurt and sad and really just fucking emotional.

There were also times when I laughed and smiled. And that made the sad bits all the worse.

I was invested in these characters by the end but it wasn't an easy ride to get there.

The first 200 or so pages of this book were slow, so slow that I was close to DNFing and the only reason I didn't was because I was morbidly curious about what was going to happen. I'm glad I pushed through because it was well worth completing it.

There were some moments where a suspension of disbelief were necessary, I mean I'm sure this shit happens in real life but all to one person? Everyone he comes across is fucking evil? I don't know, I just had a hard time believing that.

Overall though I just fucking felt pain while reading this book and I enjoyed it and it will probably be the best book I've ever read (despite my 4* rating).