Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1611 reviews

fledermausii's review against another edition

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

5.0

wtf

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

cjbuys's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

averysteel's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Grief

theresakehn's review

dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.75

subjectively - one of the best written books i’ve ever read. brought me to tears (sobbing) multiple times, very moving. great characters / development of them. 

objectively - in good conscious I could never recommend this book to anyone 

** petition for some trigger warnings on this as well (like every one imaginable) 

rate: 4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Grief

dejanira's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Go the therapy or draw 25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

edelyra's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sleepyriv's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

vish2694's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, and Mental illness

Minor: Child death, Mental illness, Vomit, Death of parent, and Abandonment

revolverreads's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

1.5

Has TikTok bamboozled you into reading a 700+ page book by an author who doesn't believe in trigger warnings? If so, you might feel you deserve some emotional compensation. 

Although delayed by conflicting travel plans and illness, we finally managed to finish "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara.

For a book that covers extremely heavy triggers such as self-harm, sexual assault, complex racial issues, and living with disabilities, you would expect the author to have done thorough research beyond just asking friends. Unfortunately, this book is as disappointing as the limited scope of research that was put into it. It is gratuitous in its depiction of trauma, filled with unapologetically useless friends, and frankly leaves us baffled every time someone claims it will change our lives. Will our lives be changed because we will inevitably conclude that this was the worst thing we could have ever read?

This book follows the lives of four friends: JB, Jude, Willem, and Malcolm. They come from different walks of life and each has their own quirks. JB is an queer "artiste" and one of the Black characters in the book, along with Malcolm, the "architect," who is biracial. As a non-Black author, Hanya Yanagihara makes some interesting choices in writing the dynamic between JB and Malcolm, where JB constantly questions Malcolm's Blackness. The author is quite vocal about her lack of research, and the chapters written from their perspectives leave you feeling uncomfortable about how these characters and situations are portrayed.

The other two characters are Jude, the "lawyer" and the "trauma dump" of the group, and Willem, the “actor” who is beautiful but oblivious to the attention he receives. Jude and Willem eventually enter into a relationship so dysfunctional that it leaves you wondering why anyone would root for them.

This book might take 200 pages to become somewhat interesting, but it only takes a few to understand how toxic the friendship between these four is. 

Jude is undoubtedly the punching bag that Hanya Yanagihara uses to get her message across to her readers. Abandoned and raised by abusive ,onks, he eventually runs away with a monk who pimps him out and rapes him. After this monk commits suicide, Jude is placed in a group home where he is bullied and sexually assaulted again. He then runs away, giving sexual favors to truck drivers to get from place to place, only to later realize he has an STD because a sadistic psychiatrist found him, locked him in a basement, and gave him medicine to get better before sexually abusing him. The psychiatrist then drove him out to the middle of nowhere, ran over him, and left him with lifelong bodily damage.

Jude never actually tells his friends about his past (except for Willem near the end of the book), but they are aware of his issues, including self-harm and potential suicidal tendencies. He has a Doctor (Andy) who has been attending to him for years, yet none of his friends ever suggest that he seek help for his trauma. Hanya constantly tries to paint Jude as the ultimate martyr, but this only creates a narrative. By the last quarter of the book, it becomes so absurd that you can’t help but laugh as the miseries continue to pile on.

It’s a book we had very strong opinions on, and barely a single one of them positive. Be sure to tune into our episode of A Little Life and commiserate with us by looking for Revolver Reads: A Bookclub Russian Roulette on your podcast platform of choice, or simply @revolverreads on Instagram. We love getting suggestions for our roulette wheel, so feel free to DM us, or email at [email protected].

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

ksaary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

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

4.5

I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. Beautifully written, the MCs trauma is so deep and horrific I had to stop reading and read happier things before continuing. I’m glad I finished, but will never, ever reread. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction