Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Una vita come tante by Hanya Yanagihara

211 reviews

manishasahota's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Outing

Minor: Abortion and Cancer

audlittlebookshelf's review against another edition

TL;DR: This is trauma porn meant to highlight some questionable beliefs held by the author. Don’t believe me? Read her interviews. 

I am begging you to read the author’s interview with Electric Lit before starting this book! Here are a few highlights: She compares therapy to religion and states that she does not believe in it. She also believes that some people cannot be helped or move past the point where they can be helped and would be better off committing suicide. Lastly, she openly states that she did not do any research before creating the main character who suffers years and years of abuse. Knowing these things, this book feels like an attempt to showcase and justify those beliefs. 

It seems like a lot of the praise for this book is shock value combined with Yanagihara’s genuine talent for detailed and descriptive writing. Thankfully there are a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews for this book that do a great job of articulating its problems. I would recommend reading some before diving into this book, especially if you feel like you have only seen positive reviews.

I will also say that I read detailed summaries of the last half of the book because I wanted to know how it ended and if my instincts were correct. All I will say is that I am immensely relieved that I decided not to endure another 400 pages of this.

Lastly, I will leave you with this quote from the London Review of Books:

He wishes he too could forget, that he too could choose never to consider Caleb again. Always, he wonders why and how he has let four months – four months increasingly distant from him – so affect him, so alter his life. But then, he might as well ask – as he often does – why he has let the first 15 years of his life so dictate the past 28. 

The answer, of course, is that it’s Yanagihara’s design. That’s why it’s good to know that Jude is entirely her concoction, not a figure based on testimony by survivors of child rape, clinical case studies or anything empirical. I found Jude an infuriating object of attention, but resisted blaming the victim. I blame the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Suicide, and Trafficking

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Addiction, and Alcohol

rileyhawkins'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Dysphoria, Trafficking, Torture, Pedophilia, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Self harm, Racism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Medical content, Hate crime, Alcohol, Outing, Mental illness, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

lolo97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Body horror, Car accident, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Suicide, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Torture, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

letiross's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

chadcloete's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

It's the best book I've read in a very very long time. Devistating, but worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Car accident, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment

metalynn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.25

Finally!! Am Anfang fiel es mir unfassbar schwer mich a den Schreibstil zu gewöhnen, ich glaub es hat fast 300 Seiten gebraucht bis ich richtig drin war… Aber dann hat es mich zerrissen. Diese 4 Menschen lernt man so nah kennen, man fühlt sich als wäre man mit ihnen befreundet. Sie wachsen quasi vor deiner Nase auf, du lernst über die Vergangenheiten, ihre Wünsche, Träume und ihre Zukunft. In manchen Momenten freut man sich für die 4 und im nächsten musst du das Buch aus der Hand legen, weil du nicht mehr aufhören kannst zu weinen. 
Es lohnt sich auf jeden Fall das Buch zu lesen und dran zu bleiben, auch wenn es einem am Anfang schwer fallen kann.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Abandonment, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Vomit, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Self harm, Eating disorder, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Car accident, Child abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Emotional abuse

antidietleah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Grief, Self harm, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Ableism, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer

queerbean's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Blood, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, Mental illness, and Addiction

anastasiyavp's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Vomit, Child abuse, Suicide, and Abandonment

Moderate: Car accident, Drug use, and Alcohol