Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

657 reviews

mskingbean69's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

hollynewton's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book navigates adult friendships, aging, career paths, addiction, romantic relationships, and family is the most insightful and beautiful way I have ever read. Unfortunately, this all ends around a third of the way in, when the book focuses on one character’s extremely traumatic life. <spoilers> The graphic and excessive descriptions of child rape, self harm and domestic abuse left me desensitised, an effect that I think is harmful to the reader and one that I hope the author did not intend. I understand that Jude’s suffering is the foundation of his character, but Yanagihara’s rendering of his abuse feels sensationalist and in my opinion trauma porn. Whilst a full recovery and happy ending for Jude would have been unrealistic, the sheer volume of physical, psychological, sexual abuse he experiences is so extreme that it feels pointless. Yes, everything that happens to Jude happens to real people, but does it all ever happen to one singular person? Jude is abandoned in an alley as a baby, a child prostitute raped almost daily, a double amputee, has an eating disorder, performs serious self harm almost daily, and loses the love of his life in a car accident. But also, he’s a vastly wealthy and successful lawyer, an exquisite singer of Schubert’s lieder, a professional-grade baker, incredibly good-looking, is adopted as an adult by his ex professor and falls in love with his best friend of 30 years. <spoilers> The result is that the book feels preachy without actually being clear as to what it is preaching; are we to feel guilty that such horrors occur in the world? Empathy for this fictitious anomaly of a person who experiences it all? Grateful for our own normal struggles in life? I’m not sure, but this book was painful to read and without many benefits for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Body shaming, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Body horror, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Cursing, Excrement, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Car accident, Dysphoria, Gore, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

melnao1's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

wtf is Hanya Yanagihara's problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Ableism, Torture, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Emotional abuse

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Confinement, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Addiction, Grief, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Self harm, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Rape, Drug use, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Body horror

olivier_c's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Rape, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Body horror, Sexual assault, Self harm, Medical content, and Adult/minor relationship

Please beware, this book is not for everyone. The trigger warning list is almost longer than the book. You definitely do not want to read it if something on the list gets to you, as content is often explicitly described and it can be repetitive in the book.

coxmagee's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Well written & incredibly dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, and Self harm

honipoems's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

I’m still traumatized but as I’m still obsessed it has to be a very high star ratings. it needs all the trigger warning you can think about but I’m still thinking about it. I don’t know if I want to leave this book behind me to never see it again or if I want to read it again one day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Self harm, Rape, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

I was ready to give this book 1 star or maybe .5 star for it being an absolute trauma porn. And it still is, it's unimaginable the trauma that's been written in this book. Well not unimaginable but still gut wrenching and for most part, Hanya could have not dragged it this much. 

I give three stars because it's a very well written book. It's comprehensive, I think the beauty of this book is how it follows the life of the friends from their birth to their death. Not an excerpt taken from their life but their whole life. So, three stars for the writing, but zero stars for it being a trauma porn. 

Anyway, read it on your own discretion. I still cannot ascertain if I would recommend this book or not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Child death

Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, Addiction, Body shaming, and Body horror

Minor: Cancer

mixty's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

4.75

A raw and detailed written story that follows the lives, love and tragedies of four collage friends. This was truly a unique and beautiful novel that was so real, so mundane, so touching that I felt connected to the characters in ways I wasn’t expecting. It did take me a little bit to really get into it, and it is very fluffy and almost written like poetry in novel form so it’s hard to follow at points. But I think it’s a beautiful story about life and everything that comes with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Medical content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Body horror, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Mental illness, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

lexipassno's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Racism, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Body horror, Chronic illness, Suicide, Trafficking, Addiction, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Self harm