Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Małe życie by Hanya Yanagihara

1788 reviews

jennycooke16's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment

natthahlyh's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting

thestarlessbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria

sg124's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Incest, Racism, Abortion, Pregnancy

jdoyle's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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a little dense at times, definitely not for someone that's not into character study type novels, heed the trigger warnings! great characters, they're all very developed and complex. the relationships that are built and showcased in this novel are beautifully crafted!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Car accident

Minor: Child death, Medical trauma

marissa_lilac's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This books is no doubt worthy five stars, only earning less than for the sheer amount of pain that ensued every time I picked it up. Despite the appearance of convolution, given its 800 page count, it would be simply incorrect to call A Little Life slow paced, for every section not only spans multiple points of view, but also decades of our character’s lives. The way Hanya uses the the backdrop of New York City and metropolitan life as not a motivation for any of the characters, but as context of their strife, beautifully exemplifies how  a setting can cradle a narrative rather than control it. The twisting and unfurling character development leaves the reader heartbroken and truly unprepared at the wrath of Hanya’s writing. Every choice the characters make, despite better moral judgement, the reader is able to rationalize and empathize with. Hanya’s depiction of gender dynamics forces the reader to regard male suffrage in a whole new way that defies the male facade of one specific cultural behavior, and depicts men as more than just perpetrators and protagonists, giving them the role of victims; to each other and to masculinity as a whole. As a reader who often find the most moving narratives through similar perspectives, A Little Life’s use of singularity and dramatic individualism has encouraged me to keep seeking out perspectives that  force ostracization and coercion to understand the transcendence of empathy over sympathy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol

Check trigger warnings before reading.

lulu_pero's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt

abhess's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I am giving this 2 stars for the very few moments where I felt genuinely touched, because most of the time it just felt like grotesquely horrible trauma being thrown to the main character for the sake of creating an emotional (?) story - but for what? It felt like an exploitative and unnecessarily excessive depiction of trauma and abuse, given that the final overall take could have very easily been delivered without such vivid imagery. 

Tragedy does not equal a deeper meaning and I felt as if this book lacked purpose.

Daniel Mendelsohn described it perfectly: “the abuse that Yanagihara heaps on her protagonist is neither just from a human point of view nor necessary from an artistic one (…) Yanagihara’s novel has duped many into confusing anguish and ecstasy, pleasure and pain”.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Vomit

og_algae13's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt

lanimatilda's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit