Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1100 reviews

cleotheo'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

4.5

brutal and gentle
heavy and delicate
sad and beautiful 
I listened to the audiobook on 1x speed for the most part. It was beautifully written and very very long. 
Do yourself a favour and pick the abridged version (I read unabridged) and take the content warnings seriossly!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, 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 content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Outing

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Dementia, and Abortion

mrs_sharp's review against another edition

challenging 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

This book will stay with me forever. Despite that, I will never recommend it to anyone, due to the nature of the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kayak77's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, and Abandonment

azulmuller's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mrs_murphtzer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Well, folks, I did it. I read the capital I It book. And it was exactly what the internet says it is: beautiful, heartbreaking.

To the beautiful note: this writer has a lot of skill. The way he moves time and narrator and sensation is fantastic. I found myself highlighting portions I was moved by, and I’m not a note taker really.

To the heartbreaking note: there is so so so much pain this this book. So much abuse of all kinds. Really really go in expecting to read some terrible stuff. 

It was a lot. By the end I was exhausted. I do not think I will ever reread it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

fri3d_kai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

completely heartbreaking but also a beautiful exploration of friendship, love and life

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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, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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