Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1022 reviews

gebevafaye's review against another edition

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

0.25

Truly the most tedious, fluffy, ridiculous book I’ve ever read. I really wanted to like it, I read it all. But seriously so slow, too long and in essence just misery porn.

Jude as the main character is so frustrating. He is always a bad friend, a bad partner, a bad person and everyone allows him to be. He’s an addict to his trauma and everyone enables him. And don’t even get me started on the misleading synopsis. None of the so-called friends are mentioned after the first fourth of the book. 

The fact that I had to list like 50 trigger warnings with no real payoff is concerning.

I didn't find anything about this book appealing and I would not recommend it to anyone.

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ophalen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.5


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kseibold's review against another edition

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

3.25


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emmarauchtcamel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

i don’t know what’s going on in hanya yanagihara’s mind but damn this woman made my heart shatter into a million pathetic little pieces and called it a day 

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parkerjm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring 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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featherinthewind's review against another edition

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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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can’t. Actually. 

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sahnve's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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littlemsshelby's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.5


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mccullah's review against another edition

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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? Yes

5.0


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daniliff's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

In good conscience, I can’t tell anyone to read this. It literally took every content warning and blew it out of the water (in all the categories literally). At times it was incredibly hard to read because it was sickeningly dark. 

That said, I couldn’t put this down and I do think it was spectacular. The imagery in my head was of taffy - she took lives and stretched them to their most extremes. By putting the characters through most impossibly perfect things that can happen and the most impossibly horrific things that can happen, you’re left with emotion so deep that I don’t think I’ve ever had it from a book before. I very frequently questioned what the hell is wrong with her to do some of this to characters and I sobbed. But I had to think that it had to be balanced with the impossibility of the extreme positives, too. 

I get why everyone warned me. And it’s LONG. But I’m glad I read it.

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