Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

13 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Another sadly beautiful book, it is it a beautifully sad book?, by Hanya Yanagihara. Haunting. It’ll start with me a long time, just like A little Life. Grateful to have read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, and Terminal illness

wormgirl's review

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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, and Death of parent

aseel_reads's review

reflective 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? It's complicated

2.75

This book was way too long for what it tried to deliver. I did like the message/the whole point of the future pov but I do think there were some messy mental health rep, that bordered on problematic. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

isobel_laura's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Homophobia, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

nibs'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book. I was mad at it in its third quarter for its intense surprise pandemic-ness, but it really pulled together in the last quarter with more dystopian themes. There are some things that frustrated me about this book - a lot was to do with feeling blindsided about the pandemic content (it doesn't appear until halfway through and is very heavy on the pandemic content in the secone half) and it all felt too close due to covid. I took multiple extended breaks and almost DNFed at 75%. But I'm glad I finished it. 
This book has an epic scope. I want to reread it some day and further map out its intricacies. Its complex and beautiful and philosophical.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Infertility, Death, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Medical content, and Violence

rachaelwho's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Could've used a firmer editor. Lots of unnecessary repetition, and a dickensian tendency to over-describe everything. Would've been more impactful, I think, at about a third shorter.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Police brutality, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Hate crime, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, Medical content, Sexism, Ableism, Death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Animal death, Chronic illness, Infertility, Rape, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and War

jourdanicus's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? It's complicated

What a long read.

I originally picked this up because I was intrigued by a story in which same-sex marriage was legalized in the US in the 1800s. This book was so much more than that (and I'd hope so at 700+ pages/30+ hours), for better or worse. I don't think that summary does it justice. Really, I see this as 3 separate books. I found myself wishing for more clear connections between the 3 stories. I know the characters were all related in some way, but I think that could have been made more explicit to bring more cohesion to the stories.

Other than that I struggle to come up with any complaints, which is surprising given that I do not tend to enjoy or even reach for books longer than 400 pages. I pretty much love any kind of character study, and this was much more character- than plot-centric. Book I, being the most focused on the topic of legal/normalized same-sex marriage, doesn't stand out to me the most, though it was enjoyable. Book II, about Lipo-Wao-Nahele, was such a gorgeous story and could totally have stood on its own; I'm a sucker for compelling parent/child relationships. Book III was a bit too depressing for me to have read during a current pandemic, but Charles was an interesting (if somewhat unlikeable) character, and I was most endeared to Charlie.

I could have done with more female characters for my taste - at least with more representation than just

mothers who abandon their partner and child

. But I can accept that not every book is going to check every single box for me. This one did enough to keep me engaged through to the end, and that's more than I can say for some that are nowhere near as lengthy.

Now going to look up a family tree of the characters so I can finally figure all that out, lol.

Edit: Can't believe I forgot to mention that the cast for the audiobook narration was fantastic. That's a big part of what kept me engaged. I definitely recommend this book on audio over other formats.

Another edit: Oh, so apparently the characters were NOT all related, and just had a lot of the same names? I don't know. That's just confusing. Sweeping family saga this one definitely is not.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Medical content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Death of parent

madelonpaige's review

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Medical content

catesm's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Classism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and War

deandra_lalonde's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Cancer, Police brutality, War, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Toxic friendship