Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Ein wenig Leben by Hanya Yanagihara

1325 reviews

sim_pum's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

bookmuva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

The more time passes the more my feelings on this book change. I go from hating it to loving it to grieving it depending on the day. Long read and not what I expected in some ways. Definitely captivated me nonetheless.

Still very torn over how I feel about Jude’s character. Sometimes it feels like his despair and self hatred toward his disabilities overpower him to the point it becomes his personality. The ending felt predictable and as I was reading I was more so anticipating when it would happen rather than if it would happen. I also was wanting him and Willem to get together, and once they did I kind of really disliked their relationship??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, and Car accident

erikabites's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, 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 violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

neontulips's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm furious. The craft of this book was so excellent, asides from what I would say amount to some planning and character writing issues that begin about the final quarter of the book, that it bothers me immensely that every lesson in the book emanates such a pessimism, that they all amount essentially to a bleak miserable world that does not do much to fight Jude's contention that his life is not worth living. Around the point in the book where I began to think, wow, Yanagihara really understands that the only way to really go on living is to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known, she created a false world in which it was impossible to allow oneself that relief,

and concluded a story which purports essentially that the people around Jude should have let him go, as a man only fifty, because his life was so hard

. To treat such violence as inevitable is to put that violence into the world. This book is beautiful and miserly and irresponsible. I hated giving it a rating for this purpose.

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Content Warnings

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

kuya_kes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

 They say people in your life are seasons, for they come & they go. But in Hanya Yanagihara's beautifully detailed, emotionally devastating yet cathartic construction about the lives of four lifelong friends through their turbulent, profound and traumatic relationships with each other and the world around them, you feel like you've spent a lifetime of seasons in their world within it's 720 pages.

Centralised through the life and times of Jude St. Francis, one of the most emotionally complex characters ever commited to fiction, the reader is tasked with navigating through empathy and sympathy as you see Jude through his own eyes, often with distortion, and through those who are within his orbit.

To know Jude St. Francis through his friends is to love Jude St. Francis. But to know Jude St. Francis through his own eyes is to fear (for) Jude St. Francis. I've read a number of books that deal with neglect, abuse and feeling unloved but none until now have taken me on the same visceral journey of turmoil, shame and blame they way this has. At times when I felt frustrated, angry or sunken at character behavior, I would then go on to feel guilty about it due to the complexity of how someone's damage and self sabotage destroys reason. Marvelous writing did this to me.

The expertly ways in which Yanagihara weaves perpectives which add more layers into each character makes you care & invest when they are effected, get frustrated when they use poor judgement and widen your eyes to both re-read and rapidly read on continue to verify when something unthinkable happens to them as if the trauma also involves you.

After closing the book, I find myself still thinking about the characters. Not only how they ended up but where things could have been different or what they would have experienced all along the way in the time in between what the book covered. I felt a sense of loss saying goodbye to the characters and thankful to have escaped it's world's ugliness.

This may end up becoming one of the best reads of my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

libbyyjo's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

eelizard's review against another edition

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mskingbean69's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

ginagirlgenius's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

A couple people have stopped me on the subway to tell me what a great book I was reading or how sad it was, things I agree with. The cover is kind of complicated. An amazing book. I liked To Paradise, which I read first, better. Interesting that both books focus on gay men and there are few women protagonists or characters in either.

I found the protagonist’s & his friend’s high success not believable even though I know it’s meant to contrast with his horrific abusive past. I suppose living in New York and knowing you’d have to be incredibly privileged and lucky for this to be true took me out of the book a bit. I find this is also a bit in To Paradis but without the nightmarish past.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism

sexual abuse, human trafficking