Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

710 reviews

carlotta25'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Infidelity, Torture, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

rjaxn'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? It's complicated

5.0

Was emotional in ways that really make you have to take a breath. Though your emotions will be running, this book feels important for anyone’s reflection on this life we live. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Vomit

jani_mcgonagall's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

kylajaynebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

evasimonyi's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

2.0

This was a hard read, I should have put it down, multiple times, but I hate to DNF books, so I continued, but I have never read anything like this, so horrifying, very sad and traumatic. It still haunts me. How come there were no trigger warnings in the beginning? I honestly had no idea what this book was about. It was nicely written, but so disturbing, I wish I haven't read it. Too much for me to handle.

Here are the trigger warnings
https://www.booktriggerwarnings.com/A_Little_Life_by_Hanya_Yanagihara

Very graphic and in-detail description of these topics. Haunting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

chuseyin's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

A book of two halves: First section was a beautiful slow-paced novel about interesting artists living unconventional lives. The second half is dominated by horrific violence. It feels like the author was tearing apart the portraits of each character, and holding up the gory pieces for the audience to be shocked about. I didn’t think it was clever, or meaningful, just destructive. This is the first book which has haunted me due to the graphic violent content which is incredibly explicit and long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Classism

Stop before chapter Axiom of Equality if you want to avoid the worst triggers.

paigehf'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abandonment, and Alcohol

gartimar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

megmahoney1's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

My heart is in a million tiny pieces.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sapphoxes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

As sad and traumatic as everyone says it is. Can ramble on at times, but not in a way that’s detrimental to the book. The kind of story where you’ll have to put it down and take breaks. It was described to me as an essential gay read, but I didn’t see it that way. 

The story, to me, was largely about abuse and how it can bleed out from what happens to one person throughout their life and into the lives of the people around them; how it can spread. Yes, I believe abuse to be a part of the queer community in a way that historically it is not in the straight community (speaking as a queer woman), but I do not think of abuse as the sole most important aspect of queerness or even queer history. This is all to say that yes, the characters are queer, and yes, abuse is prevalent,  but a story about queer people being abused does not automatically define it as a book about queerness. If anything, I found it to be more about the abuse of the disabled, be that mentally or physically, and how abuse in childhood will inevitably follow a person into not just their adult life but the lives of everyone they keep close. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Be careful while reading. Take breaks.