Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

3416 reviews

hidivamd71's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is so intense that I am in the minority of those who did not like it. The writing is beautiful, but the amount of emotional and physical pain described here is too much…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jrdnnwlkr's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Best book I’ve ever read. And will ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

freshpageonthedesk's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism

vin_eeta_3'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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jessedithgc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Cursing, and Medical content

_ladyanza_'s review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

hlieb's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

This book was hard to read and yet beautifully written. I don’t think I would recommend it to a friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

gigiwatson's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

This book was equal parts beautiful and devastating. I read this two years ago and I still think about it regularly. A story that stays with you for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

hazelgrace2411's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

I have wanted to read this book for so long since I last saw one of my favourite YouTubers crying after reading this book. Wherever I see a review of this book, I see people crying. It spiked my curiosity, and today I have finally finished it. I am so glad that I read this book. It is a must-read.

Where to start? Firstly the writing. I cannot stress enough that Hanya's writing is terrific. It is so subtle yet so merciless. She has done an incredible job of laying out the cruel reality of life. She keeps us readers engaged from the start till the very end. Her book is like an onion, peeling away each aspect of life.

I was so immersed in the story and all of the characters. I love Jude and Willem, and Harold, Julia, Andy, Malcolm, and JB. All of their dynamics with Jude and their selfless love and genuine care for him almost balanced out the traumatising parts of the book. This book is dark and whenever I came across those details, I had to put away the book and just stare blankly at the wall, wondering how can a human being be capable of such cruelty. I was so angry at those parts that I genuinely wanted to physically harm each one of them and make them pay for every bad thing they ever did to a child. Jude went through so much at such a small age. He didn't deserve any of those things. Nobody deserves it.

I am glad that Jude got to experience friendship and the true love and care of his parents. I feel for him. He didn't deserve any of it and the severe trauma he went through defined his whole life. He was never able to overcome any of it his entire life.

I thought I would ugly cry reading this book but I braved it all: Jude's past trauma, his abusive relationship with Cardan, Willem's death. But I broke at the very end. I thought Jude would live but he took his life after all. It was Harold's words that broke me and made me cry. Jude took away his life because he couldn't tolerate life anymore and he died believing all those words that his abusers wanted him to believe. He died thinking he was unworthy of all the love. He died believing he was worthless and this breaks my heart so much. Jude is going to be one of the fictional characters that I will have the most empathy for. He deserves all the love in the world.

This book is a reality check. These things happening to Jude are not fiction. My favorite John Green quote is- Life is not a wish-granting factory. We live among monsters and this world is surviving only because of people like Willem, Harold, Julia, Andy, Malcolm, JB, Irvines, and Richard.

This book breaks your heart and takes away a part of your soul. It is eye-opening. I know I will think about this book. I will think about Jude and how much he endured, and how evil men could be.

Favorite Quotes~

'Friendship, companionship: it so often defied logic, so often eluded the deserving, so often settled itself on the odd, the bad, the peculiar, the damaged.' (pg 91-92)

'... things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.' (pg 133-134)

'... because to be alive was to worry. Life was scary; it was unknowable.' (pg 500)

'We're all dying. He just knew his death would come sooner than he had planned. But that doesn't mean they weren't happy years, that it wasn't a happy life.' (pg 621)

'He had looked at Jude, then, and had felt that same sensation he sometimes did when he thought, really thought of Jude and what his life had been: a sadness, he might have called it, but it wasn't a pitying sadness; it was a larger sadness, one that seemed to encompass all the poor striving people, the billions he didn't know, all living their lives, a sadness that mingled with a wonder and awe at how hard humans everywhere tried to live, even when their days were so very difficult, even when their circumstances were so wretched. Life is so sad, he would think in those moments. It's so sad, and yet we all do it. We all cling to it; we all search for something to give us solace.' (pg 621)

'It isn't only that he died, or how he died; it is what he died believing. And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.' (pg 720) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

kweber1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt