Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Una vita come tante by Hanya Yanagihara

694 reviews

thestarsaresad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

I don't even know what to say. Admittedly, this book was slow. I could barely get myself to read each day because of how long the chapters are; it's like because I knew each chapter would take me an hour minimum to read, I didn't want to. However, looking back on this after finishing, I think it's incredible how Yanagihara has managed to condense decades of life into this story. At times, I was jolted back to reality realizing that decades have gone by in Jude's, Willem's, everyone's lives. To be honest, it kind of reminds me of Bitlife a little bit, how you can see every moment of someone's life, both big and small.

Even though the first 600 pages are brutal to get through, I fully believe that they're necessary for the ending to hit as hard. I spent the last 100 pages of this book ugly-crying, to the point where I didn't even understand how I was able to continue reading. It's not even that Willem's (and Malcolm's and Sophie's) death are that gruesome, it's just the utter SHOCK that it happened. The whole book, we slowly learn about Jude's backstory, about his cutting, and about his constant medical issues -- we're given so much time to prepare for his death. It's because there's no indication at all that it will be Willem who dies first that's so shocking. Even more depressingly, it's life. But what makes the loss hit hard for the reader as well is that we've followed Jude and Willem and everyone in their lives for decades. It feels like we've been by their sides as they've grown up from children to adults. And because we've seen all the little moments, at the end, we too know just how much they have lost. Truly, why would someone want to write this? The saddest part of these last 100 pages -- what made me really cry -- is how it just follows Jude through his grief. It has all the little details of handling grief; there are the little moments, the ups and downs, and the people who are there for you. It feels like you're experiencing the grief of losing someone in your life that you love; it's the little moments that just make you break down. It's just so unfortunate that Jude had finally gotten to this place in his life where he has almost everything he ever wanted, and had to lose the one thing that is most important to him.

I think what truly makes this book great is that it has ALL the moments of life: the good, the bad, the ugly. Good people do good things, good people do bad things, bad people do good things, bad people do bad things. Good people have good things happen to them, good people also have bad things happen to them. Bad people have good things happen to them, bad people also have bad things happen to them. Yanagihara writes life as it actually is, without glossing over the ugly or playing up the good. But mostly, what I loved about this whole journey was seeing just how loved and loving people can be. That's the truest underlying theme.

After taking over a month to read this book, I will say that the amount of time I took to read A Little Life does not equate to how good I found it. Even though I took forever to get into this book and to really enjoy it, it is written so so well. I will say, however, that I don't think I'll be able to read this book again, at least not in the near future. Maybe when it's been years and years and I've completely forgotten what this book is about, then I'll reread it. However, I truly feel that this book is meant to be a one-time read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity, Blood, Dementia, and Abandonment

PLEASE make sure you look over the content warnings before you start. I'm not someone who normally looks at content warnings, and while I don't think it was necessary for me after finishing this book, this was definitely a book full of heavy content. Almost every content warning possible is checked off of the list for this book. What sets it apart for me is that Yanagihara goes into detail for the parts of the book that concern MANY of these content warnings. Even though I know the content warnings here are tiered, I'll provide a list of the content warnings that are most brought up and recurring in this book.

1. Self harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, suicide attempt 2. Adult/minor relationship, pedophilia 3. Physical abuse, rape 4. Medical content, injury/injury detail

Please, I'm telling you! Yanagihara does not hold back on the details, so know what you're getting yourself into. <3

eahhhhh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

It doesn’t matter how many warnings you get about this book being sad or leaving your heart in pieces NOTHING will prepare you for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

gretchen_chloe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

LOOK UP TRAUMA WARNINGS before reading this book!

I gave this book a high star rating because it is a deeply moving and well written book about friendship, life and love- focusing on one character in particular who’s horrifying past slowly unfolds. 
I read someone else’s review saying they wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book and I feel similarly in that it deals with incredibly difficult subject matter. 
This book was heart wrenchingly sad, disturbing, and at times beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

adamstristan's review against another edition

challenging 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

this is the most devasting, heart wrenching book to exist. i have never cried so much while reading a book. not just a few tears here and there, but sobbing.

i don’t think i can give it a rating because i don’t know how to condense my feelings about it into a number. i also don’t think i can compare it to any other books i’ve read. i don’t know if i’d even recommend it to anyone or not.

this book was profound and meaningful but also so incredibly long. even though i enjoyed it, at times, it felt like i’d never get through it. however, now after finishing it, i appreciate how long it was because i think it was necessary to spend that much time with the characters to get to know them and understand them.

the writing style was also really confusing at times. the author’s sentences are hard to follow and you need to read very carefully to follow what is being said. the POVs switch with different chapters but there’s no indication of who’s POV it is. you just have to know. same with timelines. you just have to figure it out, which you eventually do pretty easily.

i don’t think i can say much else without giving too much away since its best to know nothing going into it. also if you’re sensitive to literally anything, this book will trigger you so probably look up content warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

Minor: Car accident

kgronniger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, and Car accident

erinreadsslow's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicide attempt

syellico's review against another edition

challenging 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: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

dejanira's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Go the therapy or draw 25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, 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, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

edelyra's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

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

loukonstantia's review against another edition

challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail