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documentno_is's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Pros:
-The characters were deep, particularly Harold, Jude, Willem, ans JB were written with complexity and nuance.
-A stark and harrowing realness established the tone; I didn’t find this novel gratuitously sad just as difficult to sit with as much of the subject matter it dealt with.
- The chapters on Jude and Willem dealing with
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Cons:
- there was a general pessimism, and almost ridiculous amount of tragedy the author threw at these characters it felt almost gratuitous at times, in the content warning sections the bottom I realized it contained graphic descriptions of almost every kind.
-
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- I hated that the mystery of Jude’s tragedy was being used as a narrative device / the entire “ what happened to him” angle too closely mimicked the overly comfortable way in which society invades disabled people’s autonomy and almost counteracted the authors purpose/theme because a lot of what made Jude’s life so unbearable was people’s inability to give him agency and decision in his own life.
Ultimately an often poignant and sometimes overly long tale of friends navigating the difficulties of life. I recommend, with heavy SA trigger warnings.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
elisavo'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
synthwhoa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
veebee257'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
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
lsaunders685'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
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
floord1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
ottolee's review against another edition
Plain and simple, this novel is an exercise in endurance, not simply because it is incredibly long, but because Hanya Yanagihara seems to be into repeatedly and brutally abusing her main character and forcing the reader to witness the almost comical lengths to which she chooses to hurt him. There are increasingly infrequent sections of the novel breaking up the increasingly frequent and drawn out depictions of physical and violence against an ambiguously gay, ambiguously ethnic, disabled man.
This is what causes the book to be as long as it is; it is the literary equivalent of Yanagihara strapping the reader to a table and drawing increasingly large quantities of blood out of them to see what they can stand, giving them cookies and Gatorade in between each draw just so the next one can be bigger. The reader hopes that, at some point, she will get what she came for, finish the experiment and give you back what you gave up. But she doesn't. She just wants to watch you bleed.
I think Yanagihara explains herself best.
"I wanted A Little Life... to begin healthy (or appear so), and end sick — both the main character, Jude, and the plot itself." (https://www.vulture.com/2015/04/how-hanya-yanagihara-wrote-a-little-life.html#_ga=2.58977709.1601876994.1578809567-1295422479.1578809567)
And so it does. And I, personally want to vomit.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
faeee's review against another edition
- 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? N/A
2.5
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
toochmarone's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
gebevafaye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Jude as the main character is so frustrating. He is always a bad friend, a bad partner, a bad person and everyone allows him to be. He’s an addict to his trauma and everyone enables him. And don’t even get me started on the misleading synopsis. None of the so-called friends are mentioned after the first fourth of the book.
The fact that I had to list like 50 trigger warnings with no real payoff is concerning.
I didn't find anything about this book appealing and I would not recommend it to anyone.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship