Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1645 reviews

zltrail's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

rosy3373's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

piasta's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

3.75

Gemischte Gefühle. Die letzten hundert Seiten waren die Besten. Ich musste nicht weinen, dennoch war es an manchen Stellen (be)rührend. Die Mitte (Seiten 400-600) hat sich stellenweise gezogen. Sprachlich meist einfach, außer die juristischen Passagen und Fachbegriffe. Die stellen über und um Kunst fand ich seht schön. 
Ich fand schade, dass es nur am Anfang POVs von JB und Co. gab. Z.B. die neben-Story über den Drogenmissbrauch fand ich spannender als die zichste Wiederholung von Judes Unverbesserlichkeit. Ehrlich gesagt, fand ich Jude sogar etwas nervig. Zu viel Selbstmitleid und Ignoranz, auch wenn ich verstehe, dass Trauma so etwas auslösen kann. Ich dachte auch, dass er eher stirbt. 
Klassismus: Apparently sind alle Charaktere reich und jetten um die Welt. Es wäre schön gewesen, auch andere Perspektiven kennenzulernen. 

Dachte, es passieren verrücktere oder „schlimmere“ Dinge. Vielleicht sind die Leute auf Booktok nur an ihre Romance-Bücher gewöhnt oder ich habe zu viele Fitzeks/Krimis gelesen. Jedenfalls hat es mich nicht schockiert oder traumatisiert. Insgesamt Medium, etwas overhyped, aber grundsätzlich einfach nur eine lange Skizze eines Lebens - wie der Titel sagt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Vomit

kasumi_misty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• 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, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

liajodest's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

thecoffeepot13's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

rebeccaroman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Drug use

gemmaborg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

An extremely difficult read, however I give it 5 stars as it is so well written and will live with me forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Suicide attempt

scland09's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I think this book was beautifully written, and there were parts I enjoyed. The descriptions of the characters’ relationships, especially at inflection points, were lovely. But in the end a few things bothered me too much to truly like the book. 

First, I can’t understand the narrative choice of introducing us to four main characters in such detail, only to follow two for the next 650 pages. Malcolm and JB went from central characters to “only there to further the plot.” It felt weird to do that to the two Black characters. My other big issue was that Jude’s past felt like a grotesque caricature of trauma. A compelling character study could be made if he had gone through just one or two of the traumas the author describes. The amount and detail of each trauma felt like overkill; they didn’t add anything to the story other than an air of unbelievability. I don’t think “trauma porn” is the right description for a work of fiction, but it really felt like the other asked herself “what is the worst thing that can happen to a person” and decided to add everything she could think of, however outlandish, with no thought to balance. As mentioned, this is what made it go from character study to caricature to me. The other things that bugged me were small — like really? All four friends became so successful in their fields as to have multiple residences on multiple continents? — and I think they irked me more because of my two main issues. Again, though, the writing was beautiful, which saved this from being a 1- or 2-star read for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

gindergrill93's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Suicide attempt