Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

80 reviews

cumbresdelibros's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicide, Ableism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Biphobia, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit

sholaghh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Car accident, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Child death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Biphobia, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Vomit

dashes101's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

Man oh man, was this a sad read. I knew going in this was going to be sad and traumatic, and I want to stress how important it is to read the trigger warnings for this book before you read it. While the book says its following four friends, this book is mainly about Jude. We follow his life, jumping with beautiful prose from the present day to his past, uncovering the traumas he endured to create who he is today. While people complain this book has no cultural / time indicators, I loved the concept of it. I liked being fully immersed in the characters rather than the political landscape of New York during their lives. As someone who isn't from New York and doesn't follow a lot of the news, I wasn't lost trying to navigate the story in relation to the city - it just provided a lovely backdrop to really meet and engage with our characters. 
Some things I really enjoyed were the characters (of course) and the way Yanagihara really shows us all of them: the good, the bad, the messy. There are times where characters do morally ambiguous, or even bad things, and I really liked that. While people say the characters are often one dimensional, either all bad or all good, I seriously disagree. Sure, there are characters like

, Caleb, who is a complete piece of shit with very little redeeming him, but there are also characters like JB, who are good people who do bad things and place themselves in bad situations and hurt the people they love.

I thought the characters were fleshed out and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them.
Another gripe I saw people having with the book is the idea that it's torture porn. Again, I don't agree. Yes, there are times where there are just horrific things happening, but I don't believe its gratuitous for the reader as much as it is expositional and necessary to create the characters that she made. 
A couple other things I saw people having an issue with was the travel-esque parts of the book, which to them seemed a little too far fetched, but I think that is honestly just reaching. I also saw some conversations about the bad representation of gay characters, which I really had a hard time with. I loved the representation in this book. The characters that are gay often have their own storylines and don't fall into caricatures of gay stereotypes.

The two that we follow most evidently, Jude and Willem, are in a gay relationship, yes, but Willem even states that he is not gay. People saying it's bad representation of a gay character I think lose the idea that it's not a gay character. If anything, when I read this book I almost thought Jude was demi-romantic while Willem was bisexual. The relationship between the two of them is stunningly lovely, warm, and caring. Willem's speech about the importance of compromise within a relationship really shaped me.

Overall, a stunning book. Brilliant prose, lovely characters, heart wrenching tale. Strap yourself in for a ride, but I seriously doubt once you start this one you'll be able to put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction and Vomit

foxtrot_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

What a horrible horrible horrible read this was, but not because it wasnt well written, but because it almost was too well written. I really went through the emotional roller coaster with this one, I cried, felt sick, wanted to stop, couldnt stop and everything in between. 

Whilst this was a well written book, do yourself a favour and dont read it. Spare yourself the sorrow and pain, but if you still insist, please check the triggers. 


One star taken because I do think this could have been 100 pages shorter and still have the desired effect of devastation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

parkkeeper_percy'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, and Car accident

Minor: Lesbophobia and Biphobia

tigerkind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Confinement

Moderate: Biphobia and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

kyrab'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

waynethelibrarian's review against another edition

This novel falls into a pattern of repetitive trauma and triggers that slightly escalate at each occurrence to the point they become unbelievable. I was buddy reading this book with my boyfriend. After he completed the book before me and we discussed up to the point I had reached, I realized by his description most of my qualms with the story up to this point only proceed to become more pronounced as the novel continues. I would HIGHLY caution  anyone from picking up this book unless you are equipped to deal with the sheer quantity of trauma this novel dumps on you. I’d advise looking through the content warnings and taking them seriously. If I had to give an overall rating, I’d say it warrants a 2/5. My qualms with the plot and characters doesn’t fully overshadow Hanya Yanagihara’s beautiful writing.

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Content Warnings

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

nykky's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Gore, Violence, Car accident, Death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Body shaming, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Biphobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

sunny0901's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Car accident, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness