Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2100 reviews

alynn1824's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

robsterrrrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I guess I woke up and chose pain today

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Death of parent

icbarka's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.5

Rough read. It made you ask challenging questions. I learned a lot also. It fell a little flat though I had high expectations. It begged the question “when are you responsible for your own healing?” But also “maybe someone cannot heal at all” Life ain’t good for everyone. It was worth the read but I would search up trigger warnings for those it might concern. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

alvin_lai's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

2.5

*SPOILERS* A Little Life is a heavy, and poetically written novel that features themes of trauma, despair and disability

that ends in a predictable tragedy

. The novel feels like Yanagihara’s attempt in creating a visceral, depressing experience for the reader, and perhaps a catharsis that comes with newfound gratitude. However, this catharsis comes from an appreciation for life after witnessing the protagonist’s devastating character development, which, in my opinion, was poorly designed. As the novel progresses, Jude’s traumatic past is uncovered in tandem with present abuse and self-harm. His plot line, as a result, becomes a bombardment of tragedies and a robbery of even the smallest glimmer of hope that appears in his life. As such, Jude’s character becomes increasingly one-dimensional - a traumatised victim who refuses hope from a lack of belief in humanity. He hence becomes hard to relate to and is an unsuccessful vessel in delivering heavy emotional impact on the reader. From another perspective, Yanagihara’s choice to concentrate all types of abuse and traumatic events onto a single character throughout the entire novel could be seen as an over-the-top attempt to justify Jude as a character that is deserving of empathy, painting an unrealistic standard of suffering that is not only hard to relate to, but undermines emotional turmoil that is not backed, or justified, with excessive occurrences of painstaking events. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

curryduttan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, 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 violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

diabro87's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

madeline_clareann's review against another edition

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

5.0

So beautifully written I could not put it down. This book reminds us to hold our loved ones a little tighter, and to put love into everything we do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

shalashaska's review against another edition

Yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Abandonment

roomoon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship