Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

84 reviews

rodeorevellers'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

So I'll start with the little I liked, the theme that life can deal you a motherfucker but the ppl who care about you can make it better. I think Jude's life would have been much much shorter if he hadn't had the ppl in his life he did. However this book was straight up trauma porn. It says it's about 4 friends but Malcolm's POV disappears immediately bc his life is too trauma free and everyone else you get the POV is just for the bad things that happen to them, I'm not going to list them but none of these characters feel fleshed out or real because of this. The book just feels extremely voyueristic in it's depictions, the good times characters have are mentioned in passing and instead you get gratuitous CSA, abuse, and self harm

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Racial slurs and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

A Little Life was difficult to put down, difficult to dream about, difficult not to dwell on for hours in the middle of the night. Yanagihara's respectful, relatively sparse depictions of a laundry list of traumas made this book tolerable, while her depictions of human goodness and joy made this book hopeful and beautiful. Particularly impressive were the author's careful detailing of fictional artworks, fictional movies, fictional law cases, fictional renovations, etc. An engrossing and extraordinary feat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Alcohol

colie923'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Classism

alomie'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

This book is a really rough read, it took me a long time to read and I needed to take lots of breaks as it was relentlessly emotional, a kick to the gut, as bad as things are they just get worse.

I can't really recommend this book to anyone and I think this is a super dangerous book to be all over booktube/booktok. Before you read this please do check the trigger warnings as the descriptions are graphic, slow and detailed. 

I found this harrowing to read, and deeply upsetting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: 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, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

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

4.0

*check trigger warnings!!!! I cannot stress this enough!!!*

The beginning of this book hit me like a train, and it does not get any easier. (although I only really realised how emotionally drained I felt after finishing)
It'd difficult to explain this novel without any spoilers, but I will say that the characters are so complex and vivid they could easily walk off the page into existence. The writing style is stunning in spite of the incredibly difficult topics the novel navigates.
I really did like the book, although I don't know if I will ever be able to read it again given it's intensity - however, it is one that I feel should be read (but only if in a mentally clear space)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

golden_like_dior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, 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, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

grinslibrary's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

flavvia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

what a book
i simultaneously want everyone to read this and want no one to read it

an 800 page epic of a story detailing a life lived. Hanya Yanagihara has such a beautiful way of detailing daily life and it’s ebs and flows in such a mundane but entrancing way. Time is fluid as she jumps from present to past to future in the way someone tells a story to their friends. It changes perspective a few times which i found slightly confusing being that almost all the characters are male.

all on little lispenard

I enjoyed how a lot of the characters were queer in some way but in a casual and nonchalant way.
I enjoyed the diversity of representation: mental health, physical disability, queerness

However there are so many triggers in this book it is sorta ridiculous

TW for the following: chronic illness, sibling death, sexual abuse, rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, abusive partner, abusive parent, child abuse, sexual assault, self harm, suicide, suicidal thoughts, medical trauma, abduction, kid napping, ptsd, partner death, death, abandonment, addiction, adult/minor relationship, alcoholism, alcohol, drug use, blood, body dysmorphia, body shaming, bullying, car accident, confinement, domestic abuse, dysphoria, eating disorder, emotional abuse, vomit, fire, fire injury, amputation, forced institutionalization, grief, gore, medical trauma, gaslighting, pedophilia, grooming, injury detail, medical content, mental illness, panic attacks, sexual content, sexual violence, stalking, suicide attempt, terminal illness, torture, toxic relationship

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Content Warnings

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