Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

80 reviews

__thalia__'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

not for everyone

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Biphobia, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Terminal illness

melisayasilem's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

You could say that none of the characters -who you become very much attached to by the way- deserve what happens to them. You feel what they feel, go through what they go through. I knew what I was getting myself into before I began reading this book, but it still hits you hard. I didn't find myself as affected as others whom I've seen their reviews saying nobody should read this book because it is f'ed up- and this could be because I read this over a period of months instead of a couple days or even weeks. Regardless, it still succeeded to leave a deep impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment, Child death, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Excrement

Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Car accident, Confinement, Excrement, and Outing

This book is not for the weak, it gets very graphic in some chapters and you might have to put it down for a bit. But it also makes you want to continue reading because you get very attached to the characters. Sexual assault and suicidal thoughts are very much present, to the point where you sometimes have to think hard to understand why the character thinks that way.

amelieks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Okay I have a lot to say about A Little Life. (Review may be a little graphic) 

First, let’s address the elephant in the room; read this at your own emotional risk. The list-no-pages of trigger warnings are not for nothing. Yanagihara takes you through the ringer in A Little Life. She leaves you raw- She’ll slowly peel pieces of your skin away until you’re fully freaking raw and then she’ll start throwing the punches. One after the other. Now there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the shocking elements in this book, stating that it’s torture-porn, shock value and all that stuff and, you know what? I would have thought so too, had I not read an article about how her publisher asked her to tone it down and she declined, stating that this was the point of the book. 
Yes it’s over the top and yes some of it might be overplayed but that IS the point. It drives the message home; trauma is ugly. It’s ugly and sometimes you don’t get to heal. This book will NOT romanticize these things, they will be presented at face value for what they truly are. 

Now with that aside; this book is one of the most beautiful pieces of fiction/media I have ever consumed. It’s in my top three favourite books (Top two, even, side by side with Starless Sea. I know, I see the contrast.) The characters, you just fall in love with them warts and all. You root for them, cry for them, sometimes you want to gives them a punch in the face but at the end of it all you freaking love them. 
The timeline of this book is all over the place but in the best of ways. Hanya Yanagihara weaves through time with her characters so smoothly you don’t even realize she’s doing it. 

I can’t recommend this book to anyone with a good conscience. I read this book to challenge myself and it was painful to read. Very painful and, well, yeah; triggering. Do I regret it, though? No. I’ll likely never read this book again, but it will always have a place on my favourites shelf. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Death, Body horror, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Medical content, Self harm, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Child death, Ableism, Gore, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Biphobia

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Outing, Stalking, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Excrement

sadmermaid'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

even tho i didn’t like the explicit scenes that i just felt like there were there for the morbo, this book was really a masterpiece. 

i really felt for all the characters until the end. the main ones and the secondary felt equally important. the storytelling and how this book is written is just majestic. i know i’ll be thinking about this for a long time. still tho i do think some descriptions were unnecessary excessive when they shouldn’t had been. 

jude, willem, malcom, jb, harold, julia, adam, richard are characters that forever will have a place in my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Biphobia, Blood, and Cursing

ivealsoread's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Biphobia, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

soumya_singhal's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Colonisation, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship

liliandra's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Grief

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

annabunce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is so sad and so well written and 1800 pages is ridiculous but I don't think anything less than 1400 would have sufficed to actually tell the story in a way that would have been respectful. But I would only recommend this book in RARE occasions. Those occasions being (but not limited to):

1) Someone you know and love is refusing to seek help for trauma and you don't understand

2) If you are a therapist trying to understand trauma (I'd actually strongly recommend this book if that was the case)

3) If you need to have a good cry and think it'll take you 1800 pages to do it

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Ableism, Drug abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Abandonment and Biphobia