Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

117 reviews

nkmustdie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

emicrk's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Child death

soumya_singhal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Colonisation, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

A Little Life was difficult to put down, difficult to dream about, difficult not to dwell on for hours in the middle of the night. Yanagihara's respectful, relatively sparse depictions of a laundry list of traumas made this book tolerable, while her depictions of human goodness and joy made this book hopeful and beautiful. Particularly impressive were the author's careful detailing of fictional artworks, fictional movies, fictional law cases, fictional renovations, etc. An engrossing and extraordinary feat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Infidelity, and Vomit

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Drug use

readwithbells's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

1.0

I am incandescently enraged at the ending of this book. It feels inappropriate and frankly a little unethical. I cannot deny this is written well, and this would have gotten 4.5 stars from me until the last chapter which ultimately resulted in the most deliberately hopeless story I have ever experienced. It all could have been redeemed but it feels like Yanagihara actively made sure we could not take any hope out of the story whatsoever. I would be terrified if someone going through suicidal ideation or a depressive state were to pick up this book. It gets two stars because it was beautifully written, which made it all the more deliberately brutal. 

I’m so fucking mad I spent 3 weeks reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer

mal__ori's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

alomie's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book is a really rough read, it took me a long time to read and I needed to take lots of breaks as it was relentlessly emotional, a kick to the gut, as bad as things are they just get worse.

I can't really recommend this book to anyone and I think this is a super dangerous book to be all over booktube/booktok. Before you read this please do check the trigger warnings as the descriptions are graphic, slow and detailed. 

I found this harrowing to read, and deeply upsetting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Drug use, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Body horror, Infidelity, Self harm, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Racism

alicesloan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Bullying, Cursing, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

golden_like_dior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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: Abandonment, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Vomit, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Body shaming, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Rape, and Suicide

zakcebulski's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

0.5

This book was absolutely not for me. I found this book manipulative. It deals with horrifically disturbing subjects and themes. 
This book, to me, did not at all justify its 800+ page length. 
Hanya Yanagihara has a mastery of prose in this book, that much is clear, and that is why this book gets a 1 from me. There are many instances of beautiful passages. However, the story is a bunch of enablers enabling very dangerous behavior under some of the worst justification I have ever seen. And, what's worse, is that these are supposed to be the likeable characters- the protagonists. 
Jesus. This thing was a fuckin' slog to me. 
If you enjoyed this book, I am happy for you. This book is clearly a passion project from Yanagihara.
If you have interest in reading this book, please read the fuckin' trigger warnings. 
Thank Christ I am done with this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Grief, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, and Toxic relationship