Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

247 reviews

dbsuperslayer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

1mardynga1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Rape, Eating disorder, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Death, Emotional abuse, and Incest

armygdala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I should have never started this book, but now that I've finished it, my life feels incomplete without this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Confinement, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Abandonment, Car accident, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Blood, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

whitehotheadedme's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad

• 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

If you value happiness don't read this. If you enjoy inflicting immense internal suffering on yourself definitely read it. 

I will never be the same person or view other people the same way as before reading this, and that is both beautiful and devastating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Death, Grief, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Blood, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Self harm, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual content

birdghosting's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

This is a book that will stay with you for a very long time, for better or for worse. It seems you either love or hate this book, and I came out loving it (even though I ugly cried through over 20% of it—and it's a long book).

As someone who usually reads fantasy and not much set in the real world, I could not put this book down once I got past the introductory section. It was very easy for me to get attached to Jude, who the entire book revolves around (I didn't even realize when starting that this is mainly his story). I was rooting for him the entire way through, desperately wanting to know more about him at each turn as it would offer me something new as a treat.

The characters all felt like they lived real and true lives, and written to perfectly match how you're meant to feel about them in that moment. Even certain characters who I loved the whole way through made errors that I hated reading about, thought to myself that I wouldn't forgive someone doing that to me—and that's life. The relationships everyone has with each other, not just with Jude, are the strongest part of the book.

I'm not used to reading such long prose, but it was very enjoyable. I did have several moments where I would start reading one sentence and get lost among the different branching off thoughts and ideas the single sentence goes through, and I'd have to return to the beginning of the sentence to remember what it was meant to be about. This would also happen with chapters, which would sometimes go into a completely different topic than where we first started before finally circling back around. There was also a lot of academic and legal talk that made me wish I were going back to university, and I didn't have a good mind map of the locations and geography talked about, which makes me curious if someone who knows New York well would be able to picture it clearly.

I think about this story at least once a day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Stalking, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Grief, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Torture, Drug use, Gaslighting, Blood, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Classism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

huangsjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Addiction, Mental illness, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Ableism, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Vomit

wordofanubis's review against another edition

Extremely sad. Nothing but misery, and I mean that truly. This book lulls you into thinking it will be about four friends struggling through life together and after 150 pages turns into a book about one guy and how unbelievably awful his life can get. This book is nothing but heartache, and as far as I've seen online it doesn't get any better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Rape, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, and Physical abuse

slaggyrat's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Rape, Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

njthk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

Technically a very well written book, carefully crafted characters, a study of a life.
The actual plot makes it so hard for me to rate this book.
It made me deeply emotional, but that doesn't make it "good". Stringing together tragedy after tragedy would make anyone feel something.

But maybe it's okay to portray a Person who doesn't get better. Ever. What gutted me the most was that all these years of kindness and love: Willem, Harold, Julia, Andy, Richard, JB, Malcolm, colleagues couldn't outweigh the horrible years that were his childhood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Suicide, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Car accident, Trafficking, Death, Dysphoria, Rape, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Sexual content, and Gore

hscoop_'s review against another edition

emotional fast-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

3.0

For all it’s hype, I found this book meh. Yanagihara’s is a brilliant storyteller, but the story wasn’t really interesting. I bought this book in 2015, it has lived with me for 9 years unread. A lot of it was triggering, so I’m glad I read it now, as a relatively stable 24 year old, rather than my manic 16 year old self.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit