Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1437 reviews

cinn_vida's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Medical content, and Mental illness

celery's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

syonkerstalz's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Violence, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Blood, Mental illness, and Sexual violence

sleepyaquarius'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

3.75

Beautifully written and heartbreaking. Trigger warning for everything you can think of. I will never read this book again 👍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Pedophilia, Grief, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Body shaming, Addiction, Sexual assault, Ableism, Sexual violence, Rape, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

abbeyrode's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Drug use, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide, Gore, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Addiction, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Death, Rape, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Medical content

maketeaa's review against another edition

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

5.0

i hestitated to pick this up because i've definitely heard some interesting opinions about it, to say the least. i've heard people say it's one of those books that are sad for no reason, that pile on the trauma just for the shock value. and, while on one hand, i can see where opinions like this come from, i can't disagree more. the sadness is there for a purpose. maybe not in a way that the characters can see, but in the way that we can see -- the purpose of showing us that no matter how much meaningless sadness, the unfairness of pain we have in our lives, the people who love us will always try to fight for us to stay alive, and, at the same time, how this fight may, at the end of the day, be for nothing, and yet it doesn't stop us from fighting. yanagihara explores friendship, love, and devotion, the decision to keep loving someone, the decision to make someone 'less sick' if they can't make them get better. heartbreaking in the futility of efforts, in the decades-lasting scars from experiences jude had no control over, in the complications in all his relationships, the people who want him to stay, and the trauma in him that makes it so hard to stay, we see that loving people isn't necessarily about how easy it is to be with them, but about how much we are willing to try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Rape, Grief, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

lqne's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body shaming, Grief, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Torture, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pedophilia, Ableism, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Trafficking

canisand'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, Body horror, Bullying, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Outing, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

effievee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Trafficking, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Alcohol, Stalking, and Cursing

documentno_is's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A long and winding saga about tragedy, disability, love, and friendship. I went into this novel knowing people found it depressing and sort of pointless and I can agree and disagree with that assessment. 

Pros: 
-The characters were deep, particularly Harold, Jude, Willem, ans JB were written with complexity and nuance. 
-A stark and harrowing realness established the tone; I didn’t find this novel gratuitously sad just as difficult to sit with as much of the subject matter it dealt with.
- The chapters on Jude and Willem dealing with

the complex nature of their ability share intimacy were my favorite chapters, the author painstakingly built our understanding of both of their motivations and drive which made me sympathetic to their difficulty in finding closeness that was suitable for each other.

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I found Harold and Jude’s relationship particularly special, finding a new way to be a father after losing his son while never conflating the two of them was beautiful

Cons: 
- there was a general pessimism, and almost ridiculous amount of tragedy the author threw at these characters it felt almost gratuitous at times, in the content warning sections the bottom I realized it contained graphic descriptions of almost every kind.
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Where the fuck was Malcolm for like 85% of this book? Removed in editing after setting him up to be such an interesting character was almost a disservice to the reader.

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I was really hoping for somewhat of a JB redemption arc but he really stayed the villain until the end, especially after Malcolm and Willem died I was hoping he would step up but instead we got the kiss, regardless I was interested in his addiction story.

- I hated that the mystery of Jude’s tragedy was being used as a narrative device / the entire “ what happened to him” angle too closely mimicked the overly comfortable way in which society invades disabled people’s autonomy and almost counteracted the authors purpose/theme because a lot of what made Jude’s life so unbearable was people’s inability to give him agency and decision in his own life.

Ultimately an often poignant and sometimes overly long tale of friends navigating the difficulties of life. I recommend, with heavy SA trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Eating disorder, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Ableism, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship