Reviews tagging 'Gore'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

518 reviews

chuseyin's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

A book of two halves: First section was a beautiful slow-paced novel about interesting artists living unconventional lives. The second half is dominated by horrific violence. It feels like the author was tearing apart the portraits of each character, and holding up the gory pieces for the audience to be shocked about. I didn’t think it was clever, or meaningful, just destructive. This is the first book which has haunted me due to the graphic violent content which is incredibly explicit and long.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

paigehf's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sarahvonzuben's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

addythebookbat's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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? Yes

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

megmahoney1's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

My heart is in a million tiny pieces.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sapphoxes's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

nrougely's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sage_3's review against another edition

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cabooklvr4's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ellenravioli's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings