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aidamaria_reads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia
Did I finish this book or did it finish me? The tears I cried, the visceral anger I felt, good grief. It kept me up at night, it gave me literal heart palpitations. If any of the events that take place in this book had happened to any of my own loved ones, I would be in dire need of therapy just to stay sane. This book is a natural disaster of great magnitude put into writing, such captivating writing that I couldn’t run, hide, look away. It made me absolutely hate people. It made me love and appreciate other people - my own friends and family - even more. (Please do check the trigger warnings on this one. I was never the kind of person thinking I’d need to heed those, but maybe, after all, I am. Is the author okay?)thatbakerthatreads's review against another edition
4.0
The story follows the lives of 4 young men from Massachusetts who moved to New York and how they relationship stays stronger throughout the decades.
Includes:
♦Growing Pains (To Put it lightly)
♦Trauma
♦Friendship
♦Trauma
♦Found Family
♦TRAUMA
♦LGBT+ Rep
🛑Content Warning:
Language
Swearing
Mentions and descriptions of sex, sexual ab*se, child sex*al ab*se, parental abandonment, physical ab*se, abus*ve relationships, self-harm, substance ab*se, and every type of trauma and mental health issues a person can have are also included.
My Opinion:
My best friend read this book before me, and he was destroyed for months after, and since I like to read about mental health and trauma, I’ve said: I want to read it too! Yeah… I kind of regret this decision now. Welcome to my essay:
If you stop reading at the first 5%, I understand, because the first act reads like a total different story from the rest of the book. The narrative and writing are not good enough to keep you interested. But after the second act starts, you can see how amazing her writing is, how much depth she puts in the characters, and how involving the narrative gets, making you crave the development of the plot and making you care so much for the characters (except JB, he’s more useless than the Henry Youngs). This is what made us so mad, because even with a story so hard to digest, the writing is incredible. She can make every voice so unique, the timelines well-rounded, that’s not necessary an indicator of who’s talking or when it’s taking place; it’s instinctive. Also, the actor on the audiobook is amazing, because how he portrays the characters, especially Jude, Willem and Harold, really touched me and made the story even more real.
Now let’s talk about why I wouldn’t recommend this book. Even with an amazing writing, the author is sadistic with the characters and with the audience. And I don’t care saying this, because she made it very clear during the book and after, that she wanted to see the characters suffer - non-stop. Jude was born to suffer, nothing more. He’s a character that you want to be friends with, you want to take care of and stay by his side all the time. But the author doesn’t give him and us a break. At all! I can say for certain that this book was 400 pages too long. Without giving more spoilers, the suffering felt unnecessary and torturous, with the characters and with us. There was no point in all of that. I’ve read my fair share of books about mental health issues and trauma, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that this book puts all of them together and adds more to it. It’s unrealistic and unnecessary. There was a part on the 50% mark that almost made me throw up, and that never happened before. I almost gave up at that point, but I needed to see what was going to happen. And I had no sense of reward or closure after the end, because I knew what was going to happen; it was predictable at that point.
So please, save your mental health and don’t read this book.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
martincru's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
kayaelena's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
kmartucci's review against another edition
- 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
There were parts where I was sucked in and there were parts where I was so bored. More than anything I found myself dying to get to the end just to finish it.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone because of the content and the slow paced, but many people do love it. Over all, it wasn’t the book for me and it was more tedious to finish than enjoyable.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
tinypear's review against another edition
- 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
“And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.”
I genuinely thought I was going to get through this without crying until I reached 'Dear Comrade'. I have never sobbed so hard whilst reading a book. The last 100 pages of this book ripped my heart out and trampled on it.
I loved A Little Life more than I can express in one review. I could not put this book down and I found the characters to be captivating, their development well fleshed-out and their lives so beautifully intertwined with each other. The story is heart-wrenching and agonising to read, especially towards the middle and the end of the book, and one that I expect to stay with me for a long time. The topics were raw and difficult but so amazingly written that I felt completely immersed in a multitude of scenes.
Before reading this book, ensure you are comfortable with the content warnings. This book is so graphic that I had to step back a couple of times and recollect my thoughts. It's also a slow one that takes a little build-up at the beginning to get going. 🌙
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
licipok's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
kimikreil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
daddylonglegz's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, and Abandonment
suryac's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
One of the most troubling aspects was the way the author handled the characters. Individuals who were portrayed as "good" or morally upright by other characters were actually deeply flawed—sometimes even terrible. I get that flawed characters can add depth and nuance to a story, but the lack of acknowledgment or exploration of these flaws felt jarring and, at times, unsettling. It left me questioning the author’s intent and message.
Additionally, the overarching themes in the book felt overwhelmingly bleak. Rather than offering a nuanced perspective or a sense of balance, the narrative seemed to insist that there is no hope. While I understand that not every story needs to have a happy ending, the relentless negativity made the reading experience feel oppressive. It’s one thing to reflect on the harsh realities of life, but another to seemingly dismiss the possibility of growth, redemption, or light amidst the darkness. At times it felt like the author wanted to dismiss that possibility just for the sake of dismissing it and every hardships that Jude endures felt exaggerated, to the point that I was desensitized by the end. It's also troubling that there's no trigger warnings available for this book from the author or the publisher.
In the end, I felt disconnected from the story and its characters. This book had so much potential to end up a sone of the best books I've read in a while, but ultimately it fell short due to its handling of character dynamics and the overall tone. I know some readers may resonate with the narrative, but this book wasn’t for me.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, 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, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abandonment