Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

209 reviews

yushi_'s review against another edition

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The first 100 pages of this book were beautiful. Hanya Yanagihara's writing is so descriptive and wonderful and the characters feel well fleshed out as a consequence. However, the continued suffering of the characters without any hope of them being saved got very tiresome and depressing to read. The list of trigger warnings for this book was endless and some of it felt quite forced to include. Two of the main characters were also just pushed to the side later on in the story and I wish we'd gotten more of their perspectives. 

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ivealsoread's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

VERY long. I’ll take out at least 100 pages. Idealize auto-compassion but is well written. 4 stars cause is so sad. 

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eib_21's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

what… the actual… fuck 

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soumya_singhal's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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liliandra's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Trigger Warnings:
Abuse
Drug Use
Harassment
Child Abuse
Suicide
Self Harm
Racial Slurs
Racism
Homophobia
Misscommunication
Forced Prostitution
Rape
Beating
Pedophilia

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brianna_reading5's review against another edition

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This was just too difficult for me to read, so I stopped. Highly triggering. Check content warnings before reading or, just spare yourself and don't read it :)

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kystalerin's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

first of all im gonna be honest, reading this book got me into a reading slump and i finally finished it after more than a month since ive started. i guess it’s because it’s my first time reading a slow-paced book that has 800+ pages but i digress. 
this book was an emotional rollercoaster for me. i didn’t cry as i expected myself to because most people said that they did but i did and still do feel numb and empty after finishing it. the sadness and pain i felt was conveyed through numbness and emptiness. i couldn’t stop thinking about Jude, his friends, his past and his journey in going through life. i felt so much anger when i got to the part where his past was revealed because it was most definitely f’ed up and what’s worse was when you think about it, it’s probably, oh most definitely happening out there in the real world. i wished i could get into the book and give Jude a big warm hug every time he tried to blame himself for all the messed up things that others have done to him, whenever he thinks he’s not good enough or that he doesn’t deserve kindness and love (this one hits different for me, sadly). i loved how this book also focuses on the love and friendships Jude had with the good people around him, the silver linings of his life instead of it just being 800+ pages of pain. definitely look into the trigger warnings before reading this book btw.

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parkersjoint's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.5

even tho i really feel this is a book that many are on the fence of “i love it” or “i fucking hate it” — i wish i could  join them, but i’m neither. nor am i in the middle feeling “ok” …. i thought it was??????? good. that’s all. 

i have a lot of issues with this book though. this slight review will not spoil anything or going into the plot—though i have a handful of things i could say—but for starters, this book has no reason to be this long. it can be overrrrrrly detailing and spend 2 pages on an 2 minute time pass of something that was a flashback 2 christmases ago. it’s ridiculous. 

speaking of flashbacks—the writing style hanya has written this book in is not tasteful for me. it bounces around and time jumps and i found myself having to think harder or remind myself that *this* certain thing is a flashback and *this* is what is happening at this second—i shouldn’t be doing that? idk. and it blends the flashbacks dialogue WITH what current state is happening it’s annoying. 

the establishment of the year dates and the time period this book takes place in is basically nonexistent. there aren’t any pop culture references to give you a sense of the year & that was something in the back of my head that bothered me. the chapters are at minimum 2-3 for each of the 7 or so “sections of this book” so IMAGINE how long they are ahahaha. 

i don’t hate this book.
i don’t love it.
i thought it was ‘more’ thank ok.
but i will never read it again.
and i’m glad it’s out the way :) 

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thebookfetishist's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A highly interesting read on a person that never wants to get better. Yet, I had my issues with it. For one, the portrayed abuse was sometimes very unrealistic. 
I do not believe that every single (male) person Jude came across in his childhood wanted to r*pe & abuse him (referring especially to the part with the truck drivers). Statistically speaking it just doesn't make any sense, although I'm fully aware of the fact that this kind of abuse happens way more than we first asume.
Also, his very first boyfriends character seemed very fanfictiony & super unrealistic. I feel like his motivations to abuse Jude were really unclear & the fact none of his friends noticed the severness of what was going on baffled me because in my understanding it was established that they (especially Willem) kept a close eye on him and knew him generally speaking well enough to notice the slightest bits about him being off.

Nevertheless, I can say that a lot of the characters grew on me & to this day I sometimes have to stop in my tracks to allow my thoughts to fully circle back to them for a few moments, before being able to resume my mundane daily tasks :). 

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cstein's review against another edition

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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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