Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Ein wenig Leben by Hanya Yanagihara

1043 reviews

celery's review against another edition

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

syonkerstalz's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Violence, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Blood, Mental illness, and Sexual violence

abbeyrode's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Drug use, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Suicide, Gore, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Addiction, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Death, Rape, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Medical content

xaqrii's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Medical content, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Confinement, Drug abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Child abuse, Violence, Self harm, Chronic illness, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

juliabristow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Several months ago I was talking to a friend and I mentioned that I had gotten this book and immediately she just said "oh, the trauma porn book." In my head I was very dismissive, thinking I was pretty sure she hadn't even read the book and was just being annoying. But now that I've read it,,,, yeah 😭

The book starts out really strong if you enjoy contemporary fiction, but the more and more you dig in to Jude's backstory the more just unnecessary it feels. I actually have nothing against depicting really dark and traumatic experiences in books, but I feel very strongly that if you're going to do it it has to serve a purpose, and in this instance I just don't really think it did. I think you could argue that ONE of Jude's childhood traumas would be constructive to the story, explain his refusal to open up to people, and give the reader enough sympathy towards him. But after time and time again of learning something awful that happened to him, it stops being useful to the narrative and only exhausts the reader. [spoiler ahead] I genuinely laughed when Willem died because I had become numb to feeling bad for Jude and the amount of shock-value trauma was almost comical. Maybe that makes me a bad person but I don't care!!

Not only does the trauma get old, I also really stopped being able to sympathize with Jude once I got about 3/4 of the way through the book. I know him refusing therapy is a common point throughout the book, but jesus CHRIST go to therapy. I genuinely just can't feel bad for someone who isn't even trying. Refusing to go to therapy, forcing himself to have sex with Willem, apologizing to people for being sick, it honestly just becomes insufferable after 700 pages of it. And again, it serves NO purpose. Things would be different if the book was about his journey to recovery and overcoming the trauma, but instead the author just slaps some improvement at the end before finally having Jude kill himself anyway - there's absolutely no message or anything to take away besides "wow, that guy's life sucked." And again, maybe that makes me a bad person, but I think the real answer is that my friend was right and the book is just trauma porn.

Most people will say that this book is emotionally devastating and will make you cry, and that is true! But I only cried at the happy moments, which are few and far between, and the sad parts would be much more impactful if there was an actual point to them, like I've said several times already.

Anyway, at the end of the day I don't think this is actually a BAD book, just an unnecessary one that spreads potentially harmful messages and would probably cause someone with similar experiences to go off the deep end themselves. In the acknowledgments at the end the author has a list of people she consulted for medical, legal, and artistic advice, and the fact that there isn't a mental health expert in that list feels like a sign

Rant over, 3 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Pedophilia, Rape, Ableism, Eating disorder, Medical content, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body shaming, Religious bigotry, Death, and Grief

Minor: Vomit

privatecaboose's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Self harm, Trafficking, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Violence, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, and Rape

canisand's review against another edition

challenging 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 use, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, Body horror, Bullying, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Outing, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

elisavo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gaslighting, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

zyaise's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, Mental illness, Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Grief

soraydiant's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit, Cancer, and Ableism