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lena_hearts_books's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition
- 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
The plot revolves mainly around Jude, the main character of the story, who is such a broken person, having experienced so many horrors in his childhood and teen years. Since their isn't more special going on, I'd say that this book is mainly character-driven.
As the reader we get continually told of the characters live, often switching the point of view and or the time setting via retrospects. By also occassionally changing from third to first person, we get even better insight of the feelings of the characters.
The cast of characters is very diverse. There is LGBTQ+ rep, disabled rep and BIPOC rep. As I am not disabled nor a person of color myself, I will only say, that the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals was very well executed and there were many sides of that coin shown.
I have to say that the characters were also very different from one another and every one was developed very precise and I had fun reading about them and their lives, because they were really interesting designed.
The writing was lovely and simple to read in my opinion. Although very wordsy there weren't any words I didn't know. I loved that the author used much time to describe anything into details which made it very easy to build up the atmosphere.
I liked that the autor made it as clear as possible about what you as reader should feel and conveyed that perfectly.
A thing I didn't like that much was that at some points the book was very sluggish and I really had to push myself to get through those parts.
In conclusion, I can definitely say that I enjoyed this book very much and it even made me shed some tears. which doesn't happen that often while reading. But I really advice anyone wnating to read this book to chek the content warnings because there are definitely a lot! But I can still recommend it to anyone who has the emotional capability to read it.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
sentiaracha's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Transphobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, and Dementia
bill369's review against another edition
- 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
Okay, this book strongly influenced me. It really made me think and reconsider so many things. More than I would like for certain. But all in all, it really is an unforgettable, masterwork, something that becomes so close to your heart and then stabs you.
Characters in this book are real. They have their flaws and their strengths. I deeply care for them and hope that in some universe they are happy.
The writing is spectacular. At first, I was a little annoyed by how at one moment we were in the present and at the other, it was a flashback, however as the book goes this is eliminated. The more you read, the more you understand it and the more you like the way it's written. There are strong lines and they make me think or sob. The one that's really close to my heart and tears is:
It wasn't an easy read. It broke my heart and it will be broken by this book for a long time. It will always have room in my heart. I don't regret reading it, it's my favourite stand-alone book. It was an amazing experience, however, I will not be recommending it. I believe, that only someone who really wants to and is prepared to should read this book. It isn't for everyone.
If you are considering reading or you are reading the book, then I'm telling you it gets better. The Happy Years are actually happy and they are so beautiful. It really is the best part of the book. I would recommend, that if you don't want to have the happy experience be ruined, stop after part 2 of The Happy Years. Part 3 doesn't bring nice things and all that follows is just heartbreaking.
Jude's story is truly disturbing and sad, yet it brings attention to any topic, which isn't a bad thing. The trigger warning list is very long and I will try to put everything here, however, I do recommend checking it elsewhere as well. At times it feels like Hanya Yanagihara is just torturing this poor guy. I'm truly sorry he had to go through all this bad stuff.
You can live a long happy life without reading this book. If you really don't want to read it, then don't. Save yourself the pain. There are far better books that won't cause you to cry randomly, because of the thought of the book.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Death and Drug abuse
Minor: Child death, Racism, Suicide, Transphobia, Car accident, and Death of parent
nickel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
bethanmoran's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Ableism, Death, and Blood
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Transphobia, Car accident, and Lesbophobia
booksandboba's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I feel like I don’t know what I’m supposed to take away from this book. What did I learn?
I did appreciate the theme of friendship and relationships in the book, though. Some aspects of the book felt predictable.
Maybe you’d like the book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, of course because of all the content warnings, but also because I personally felt like I had wasted a month reading this book. I didn’t necessarily hate it nor did I hate it while reading, it just didn’t really leave me feeling any sort of satisfaction or like I learned something or have a greater understanding of anything.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol
koya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia