Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

138 reviews

chloleighton's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Car accident, Death, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Pedophilia, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Child death, Addiction, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse

eliel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

I appreciate this book the most for the beautiful characters (particularly Harold and Willem) and how kind they are. The writing makes the book a smooth read even if it is lengthy. What takes more than a full star away from this book is the quantity of evil adult males Jude faces in his childhood, it feels unrealistic that he is abused by literally all men he meets.

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Content Warnings

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

silverbirch's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.5

A gritty and real reflection on mental health, trauma and friendship. Follows Jude and three friends navigating their lives, with no detail spared. Questions the idea of why we’re attracted to tragic media in the first place. Very hard to read at times, and at points felt as though the characters were subject to whatever was the most emotionally damaging situation the author to come up with, but then maybe that was the point. Perhaps exists as an example of why sometimes tragic media should not be consumed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Death

kiwi_burger'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Abandonment, Suicide, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Grief, and Sexual violence

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Medical content, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Self harm, Mental illness, Grief, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Abandonment, Infidelity, and Ableism

Minor: Cancer and Dementia

monsterapothos'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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Ableism, Car accident, Death, Toxic friendship, and Violence

acomwt'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Trafficking, Sexual content, Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Alcoholism, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Pedophilia, Gore, Death of parent, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Hate crime, Car accident, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Cursing, Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

dairyfreemozzarella's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

i don't know how to rate this so im giving it a 2.5 for fairly in the middle.

on a seperate note i think the back cover should reflect more of the pure agony of this book OR there should be a list of trigger warnings in the begining. i was not prepared!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Medical trauma, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Trafficking, Violence, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Torture, Drug use, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Body horror, Car accident, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Stalking, Eating disorder, Outing, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Vomit, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, and Dementia

busy_bee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

 This novel is unlike anything I've read before. I felt that I really knew the characters after over 700 pages with them. I have quite a few points I would like to make, so here they are. 

THE GOOD

1. The Writing

Hanya's prose is musical. It takes a master to be able to write such quality prose that the reader is engaged for over 700 pages. She switches perspectives often as well, and because she allows you such an intimate look at each character (even when not solely in their perspective) the reader doesn't get confused. The way she writes prose dependent upon who is narrating is subtle but vital to the deeper meaning of the novel. 

2. The Relationships

The relationships and how they evolve in this novel is something magical and is something that Hanya is able to do so effectively because of how long her novel is. There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this novel, but you don't forget the important ones.

Jude and Willem's relationship is the one that evolves the most clearly. The friends-to-lovers arc is one that I predicted from the start and enjoyed as it developed, but, like many other things in this novel, nothing is black and white.

3. Mental Health

Obviously, this novel has an intense, long list of content warnings, and for good reason. Jude is a character that is tormented by his past, and the reader is tormented as he reveals it to us and as we watch him struggle to carry the weight of it all. I felt that the depiction was raw and honest, not only from Jude but also from those around him. Willem, Harold, and Andy are those closest to him and arguably those most affected by his self-destructive behavior. For a long time, without even knowing why.

Willem is the only character Jude reveals anything to while he is alive, and he reveals the most to him. Willem takes on a lot of stress due to being Jude's primary caretaker and main support system. He considers leaving Jude because of this, but doesn't. I wondered whether this was the right move or not. For Jude, absolutely. But for Willem? If Jude hadn't tried to make an effort after that, it could have been really dangerous for both parties. At the end of the book, when Jude is at the end of his rope, Harold and Julia remain calm and loving towards him. I found this to be one of the sweetest moments in the book that didn't involve Willem.

Andy was a character that I think was overlooked often. He was also a main support system for Jude and saw a lot of the ugly side of Jude's struggle. 

THE CRITIQUE

1. Length

I thought at first that some parts of this novel could have been removed and it could have been shortened. However, I see why Hanya had to keep everything in. The book is literally called "A Little Life," and sometimes life is mundane. It wouldn't be good writing if she just wrote "and then Jude was sad because of his trauma." She has to show us, and because her prose writing flows so easily, it doesn't feel like reading over 700 pages throughout. There are times where I wish that chapters were shorter, they sometimes felt overwhelmingly long. 

2. Was it too graphic? 

It could be argued that the depth and severity of the detail in Jude's story was too graphic for a novel, and it was certainly difficult to read at times. However, I think that without the graphic detail some of the severity of the seriousness would have been lost. Some of the horrors that Jude lived through are, literally, unimaginable without Hanya's descriptive prose. Does Hanya, an author who, to the best of our collective outsider knowledge, has not lived through any of these horrors or experienced any of the severe mental distress, have the ethical right to write about these topics? Personally, I believe that even if she didn't live through these things herself, she was certainly educated enough to write intelligently and thoroughly. Additionally, those who have lived through horrific things would likely not write a fictional novel about it (not that Hanya is a savior for them, by any means, but she did bring attention to some things that most authors shy away from.) 

3. Race, Gender, and Sexuality

This novel consisted of, what we assume to be, mostly white characters, plus JB, the one Black character who of course has a drug problem. I do wish there had been more explicit racial diversity throughout the novel because while JB's race wasn't a main plot point, it was discussed, and I would have liked to see more discussion of other experiences. This was a predominantly male centered story, with very little feminine energy throughout. Julia is the most consistent and significant woman besides Ana. I think that mental health and men is rarely discussed though, so for that reason I think it was okay. Connections between men are not celebrated in modern culture as much as they should be. Sexuality was also a topic that was discussed off and on throughout. Queer people existed in this story consistently: JB, Jude, Willem, the Lesbians from the beginning, etc. It was never a major focus though, and I sort of enjoyed that. It's common for whenever there is a queer character in a novel for them to be constantly battling with it and questioning and coming out and on and on and on. But in this novel, the characters just exist as they are and it isn't a problem. 

OTHER THINGS I WANT TO SAY

1. JB

He was a character I despised at first and grew to tolerate and then empathize for. He was arrogant, selfish, and did what was best for him not matter what it meant for those around him.

When Jude cut him off, I cheered. When Jude let JB back in his life, I scratched my head. But in the end, I think that JB kept him alive longer than he would have been without him. I simultaneously still dislike him and also feel bad for him because his life was one that was not easy. I cannot forgive him for kissing Jude unprompted, mocking him, or coming onto Willem many times throughout when none of those things ever were acceptable. I wondered if he was so desperate for people to love him that he never loved anyone else?

2. Malcom

He really fell off the plot towards the end of the novel and I wish we had seen more of him. However, it was so evident how deeply he cared about all of his friends and I love him for that. I think he was see as a background character by those in his life as well as the reader. 

3. The Lack of Context

I've seen some reviews talk about their disappointment in the lack of social context. For all the queer characters, there is no mention of AIDS or anti-LGBT legislation. There are no significant social events like wars, 9/11, protests, or movements being discussed. There's not even a single mention of a pop culture event like Y2K or any name drops like Madonna. Is it that the characters just don't care about the world around them? How are we supposed to know when the story is taking place? Personally, I think this was a deliberate choice by Hanya. Without context aging the novel, the story and its messages can stand the test of time better than it would if it were set explicitly in present day or in the past. 

OVERRALL THOUGHTS

I cannot in good faith give this novel anything but 5 stars. The way it is written, what it is written about, and the people within the story are so masterfully done that it would be wrong to say that some aspects of the book being controversial make the book worse. If anything, it makes it the book better, because the book is promoting deep, intellectual thought. It is heartbreakingly, gut-wrenchingly, devastatingly sad.

And yet, the end of the lives of the characters felt inevitable from the beginning. It is the story of these people's lives, and all lives end. Willem dying before Jude was so unexpected I expected it, and yet I sobbed. Watching Jude struggle to survive without the person he has spent a majority of his life with in some way was devastating. When Jude finally died, the way we all knew he would, it was sad and relieving all at once. A little bit of me was glad that Jude was done suffering, done fighting, done being miserable. I wish he could have been happy alive, and for all these reasons, I cried. It was only fitting that Harold was the final narrator. He was a character we really mainly saw from the outside, his perspective was rare and usually past tense, so gaining his perspective right at the end was so vital to understanding. It was evident that Harold truly loved Jude and Willem deeply. I wish we could have seen Julia's perspective too.

This novel is so sad. But it's also so much more than that. I don't recommend this book to anyone, you need to decide for yourself that you're in the right headspace to read it and take care of yourself. Writing this review was honestly very therapeutic. Now I'm going to read a silly romance novel or something to remind myself that life is good again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Child death

READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS. If you are hesitant to read it because of the content, DON'T. It's a lot, and it's challenging. I loved this book, but you need to take your time and practice intense self-care during and after reading.

goodnightngo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

i honestly went into reading this book expecting to be disappointed and bored. but i really enjoyed it. some parts are truly so difficult to get through, but this book is so impressive. i feel like i’ve personally lived about 100 little lives while reading this…. this is a modern day tragedy literally modern day shakespeare. its so long i cant even begin to explain everything i feel about it, but if you want to read it, do it and go into it with an open mind. 5 stars but i’ll probably not read this for about 7 years.

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Content Warnings

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

read the TWs….