Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Een klein leven by Hanya Yanagihara

126 reviews

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

This book is absolutely wretched (derogatory), for a plethora of reasons. In no particular order and to varying degrees of fucking awfulness: 

• The fatphobia: this book constantly ridicules fat persons, both in the language that is used to craft their existence, or in the way that these characters are treated by others (see: JB). 
• The transphobia: in one scene, a side character is having, what is presumed to be, a transitioning party. At no point within the text does the author nor the characters switch their use of pronouns after learning this. 
• The friendships: I've heard people talk MANY times about how this book is such a good marker of friendship. It is not. The friendships in this book are unhealthy, borderline abusive. The characters hold their friends on pedestals, refusing to see any flaws from their friends. The OTHER OPTION is that the characters view their friends suffering and flat out, selfishly refuse to see past it, as if nothing is wrong.
• The depiction of queer relationships: Yanagihara disgusts me. The constant depiction of MLM relationships as something "wrong", as something "disgusting" eventually culminating to Queer tragedy felt so utterly wrong. She did not handle Queer issues with any grace, instead choosing to force trauma upon trauma upon Queer characters
• The trauma: at a certain point in the book, I started to roll my eyes at the amount that Jude suffered. Not because he deserved it, but because each time the reader thinks things might get to a place that is okay, Yanagihara thrusts something in the readers faces, as if to say "NO! LOOK! LOOK! ACTUALLY IT"S JUST BAD!" I don't fucking care that she intended this book to be a reflection of cherishing life's happy moments. What came across was horrendous. 
• The self harm: after a number of repetitions, the self harm in the book felt so fucking blasè. Yes we know this character is harming themselves. why the fuck did you feel the need to detail every single tiny detail of it. every. single. time. To what purpose does this serve but to the author's disgusting twisted sense of shock value. 

I don't know why i finished this book. I truly don't. I'm reevaluating the last couple days of my life and the use of my free time. Don't read this book. If you're looking for depictions of trauma on a similar scale but with ACTUAL meaning and purpose within a story, just read The Poppy War for christssake. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Biphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Outing, Body horror, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Dysphoria, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Gore

sw317's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Ableism, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Vomit

cm1922's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Why would anyone write this. I threw the book across my room twice cause I couldn’t look at it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

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.

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

leezavh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Oh god. Why did I do this to myself. First of all, let me confirm, this is every bit as sad as everyone says it is. Just devastating. I've had a pit in my stomach for days, and probably days to come, because of this book. I've literally lost my appetite. But it was so worth it. This is probably the best thing I've read all summer. The writing is (sometimes painfully) vivid and descriptive, and the blunt yet poetic tone perfectly encapsulates Jude's personality. The core relationships in his life are well developed and realistic, and the constant up and downs of his mental health kept me invested for all 814 pages. When it happened, and those who've read this know what I'm talking about, my heart dropped to my stomach and my hands actually started shaking. It felt like getting shot. Again, I don't think I can fully convey how gut-wrenching this whole thing is. However, one thing Yanagihara does really well is punctuating the sad parts with happier (or at least neutral) parts, which not only gives the reader a break, but also keeps the sadness from getting repetitive and actually makes the sad parts even sadder by comparison. I recommend marking parts that you really liked or that you thought were happy to look back on later, because trust me, you'll need it. My main gripe with this book is that basically the entire plot is predicated on the fact that

nobody forced Jude into therapy or a psych ward or something after the things he did to himself. Sure, it was strongly advised, but all the people in his life let him go on for years without stopping him, without getting him to talk about what happened to him. It's probably the most unrealistic part of the book for me. Especially in his adolescence. Like the authorities rescued this fifteen-year-old from a crazy kidnapper-rapist who had run him over with his car (this is after he prostituted himself for months to escape from a sexually abusive boys' home, which he was placed in after being rescued BY THE AUTHORITIES from a crazy sexually abusive priest, who was also prostituting him out for money) and nobody said, "hey, maybe we should get this kid some meds? Or a child psychologist? So that he's not irreparably damaged for life with no ability to talk about his trauma?" and then his social worker also never made him talk about it? Even when she knew she was dying and that she had very limited time to help this kid? Idk, it broke my suspension of disbelief at times

. Apart from that, the traumatic events were always grounded enough to feel realistic. Now that I've written this review I'm going to lie down on my carpet and stare at the ceiling for a while, hopefully long enough to erase the events of this book from my mind and go back to living a normal, well-adjusted life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Torture, and Trafficking

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

major_tom's review against another edition

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

4.0

I’m in a conundrum, because I agree with both 1-star and 5-star reviews.
Is it trauma porn? Yes?
Is the story questionable if you think about it? Yes
Did I enjoy the characters? Yes
Did it make me feel good reading about how adults care about each other as friends? Oh yes
But when I was reading it, it didn’t bother me much. I was more focused on some themes that resonated with me. For me, it was an interesting read, with a lot of “THERE IS MORE ABUSE HUH?”.

I read it because I saw it on TikTok, I was curious how traumatic it can be. 

I wasn’t convinced by motivation for some of Jude’s behaviour as well as his friends. For me, this book wasn’t for factual inspection of trauma or abuse, or loving and healthy relationship; for me, it was a piece of fiction, which had the main theme that “sometimes your best will never be enough”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction

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

rodeorevellers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

cstein's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Infidelity, and Vomit

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Drug use