Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Una vita come tante by Hanya Yanagihara

1402 reviews

syonkerstalz's review against another edition

Go to review page


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sleepyaquarius's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging 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

3.75

Beautifully written and heartbreaking. Trigger warning for everything you can think of. I will never read this book again đź‘Ť

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

abbeyrode's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maketeaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

i hestitated to pick this up because i've definitely heard some interesting opinions about it, to say the least. i've heard people say it's one of those books that are sad for no reason, that pile on the trauma just for the shock value. and, while on one hand, i can see where opinions like this come from, i can't disagree more. the sadness is there for a purpose. maybe not in a way that the characters can see, but in the way that we can see -- the purpose of showing us that no matter how much meaningless sadness, the unfairness of pain we have in our lives, the people who love us will always try to fight for us to stay alive, and, at the same time, how this fight may, at the end of the day, be for nothing, and yet it doesn't stop us from fighting. yanagihara explores friendship, love, and devotion, the decision to keep loving someone, the decision to make someone 'less sick' if they can't make them get better. heartbreaking in the futility of efforts, in the decades-lasting scars from experiences jude had no control over, in the complications in all his relationships, the people who want him to stay, and the trauma in him that makes it so hard to stay, we see that loving people isn't necessarily about how easy it is to be with them, but about how much we are willing to try.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

xaqrii's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

1.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lqne's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mari_lit's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

acalla7's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

Read trigger warnings!! This book spans over 50-60 years of a very tormented persons life and the people surrounding him who also have their own traumas and struggles. These characters are deep and feel like real people that I now have known my whole life. I wish I could find Jude in real life to just hold him for days on end. </3 I think it's definitely going to stick with me for a long time but I feel like I learned a lot from it and that's all I can ask for. It's a book that represents many other peoples lives in many different ways. It's not for everybody but when you break it down, isn't that what all art is? For some, this is reality and not just an 800 page story and that's the awful truth of it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

effievee's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

zyaise's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

I’ve seen mostly positive reviews so I thought it was worth it to give my two cents. The book is beautifully written, I thought the beginning was promising, but it got more dull as it went on, it seems as if the author wanted to fit as much trauma as possible, and while I do understand and know that this is the reality of some people, I feel like it falls flat, the trauma takes the main role over the actual characters, I guess that’s why I didn’t really connect with most of the characters. 
And here’s the thing, I think the plot twist was lazy, making Willem die first instead of Jude seems like such an overdone plot twist, making the healthy person die because it can happen to any of us, I get it, but I’ve seen it already in so many books and movies and shows that it has lost its impact, I would be more surprised at this point if the set up was predictable. And while Jude dies in the end, that also fell flat for me, it felt forced at that point.

Also, the triggers list is very very long and you should check it out before picking up this book, personally I don’t recommend it, I didn’t cry (mostly because I didn’t connect with the characters) and I didn’t enjoy it, even though it’s beautifully written and it’s certainly the portrayal of life, I just wish it would’ve been… more. I would’ve also loved it if the whole book was from Harold’s POV, I found his chapters to be the most touching, engaging and emotional. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings