Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1020 reviews

matildaesandell's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This book is stunning. I don’t know for sure yet if this is a 5 star, I need to sit with my thoughts and feelings. Some parts I found quite slow and I was losing interest, but then they’d hit you with something big which redeemed those moments and sometimes even had me turning back. 

Some quick notes on things I liked the most: 
•The way you sometimes had to figure out for yourself who’s POV you were in
•The way things are alluded to at the start of the book and you slowly slowly receive the information you want
•The intense conversations and chapters, with their light comedic relief-specifically one chapter where Willem is talking about the different environments and whiplash, and Jude says “So I am NZ” 
•The way this book makes you feel something. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

themrshedrick816's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

From the reviews I’ve read you either love this book or you hate it. Hate is a strong word, but I really didn’t like this book. It was traumatic and sad and every time you thought it was looking up and happy things were happening, nope, sad and traumatic again. I read another review that said the Author was intentionally giving the main character an awful life and that was the point of the book. I don’t think I would have loved it if there had been a happy ending but the self-sabotage and heartbreak throughout was just too much for me. If you like sad emotional reads, give it a try but I recommend anyone who reads this to look up and read the trigger warnings because there’s is a lot of them and they go into a lot of detail. I considered putting this on my DNF list and I regret that didn’t just quit because it wasn’t worth it for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Medical content, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

fbarros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.25

This book is beautifully written. You get caught up in the characters' lives and feel for them. I loved following the characters through their trials and tribulations and being able to see how they grow older.

However, I feel like the author made very unlikely things happen to the characters just for shock value, and it made me bored, more or less, in the final two parts because of it. It all felt too artificially designed to make you feel something, and it ended up making me feel nothing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Torture, Self harm, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Stalking, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Alcoholism, Drug use, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment

macwoods's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

I'm the first to admit liking a sad story, but this is trauma porn. This book answers the question: how might an author warrant nearly EVERY trigger warning in their work? Do not read this if you are struggling with or recently recovered from an ED or self harming. I wanted to love the book with these lovable, beautiful characters, but I couldn't get past how unlikely the trajectory was for the main character given the seemingly bottomless well of abuse this young man barely crawled out from. The fiction of a meritocracy almost rescuing this character... In fact, all the characters are wildly successful in their careers because glamour/art/money, I guess.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Self harm, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction and Dysphoria

payson's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Car accident, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kalynnar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Rape, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death of parent, Vomit, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Death, and Drug use

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

PLEASE read the content warnings and heed them. This book is dark, and the subject matter is extremely heavy. Jude’s despair is the main focus throughout, but the story does delve into the lives of other characters.

Hanya Yanagihara is an immensely talented author. This book is beautifully written, and you will feel strong emotions about all the characters, be it love or hate. Unfortunately, that means the ones you love will also break your heart, over and over and over.

The story follows four friends from college and the people they meet along the way—the things they’ve lived through, their successes, their struggles, the things they can’t overcome. Please take care of yourself while reading this book and know that you are loved.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing and Infidelity

tazch1701's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

The prose of this book is exquisite. Adored the writing of the friendship dynamic. Especially appreciated Willem's thoughts regarding Jude, his career, his parents etc. It felt very real and really grounded the character.
With regards to Jude, I wish there was more of an exploration of his thoughts and how his adverse childhood shaped his self worth as an adult. It was easy to extrapolate the fact that what happened to him as a child is what makes him act the way he does as an adult, but I specifically would have liked to have seen an explanation of that in his own words/ inner monologue.
I have a major issue with the end. It could have been a brilliant way to explore how choosing to take the steps to recover doesn't always mean you will recover. Or the fact that recovery is not linear, that normal is different or almost has no meaning at all when your childhood has been so wrought with strife. An aspect of mental health I think is ill explored is the very real risk of actually not seeing improvement despite leaning on a support system and taking steps to get better, if the book explored that it would have felt complete. Instead, it ended in a way that makes the book seem like its only purpose was to make Jude suffer physical abuse from either other or himself.  Not to say Jude's ending didnt make sense, given what happened to Willem I fully understand why he did what he did. But it robbed readers of an ending that would have left us a little more enlightened and equally as heartbroken.
I still have to rate the book fairly highly despite how much I hated the ending because its taken up so much space in my mind and its taken me almost a year to properly articulate my thoughts on it.

---

Content Warnings

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

isis_wm's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

Incredibly well written. Usually I’d consider an 800-page book quite a challenge, but reading this went so easily. There were moments where I couldn’t put the book down, but there were also times it felt like I wasn’t progressing. I don’t deny the fact that it’s a great book, but I do think that the author kept on stacking trauma upon trauma to make the main character’s suffering even more intense even though just a singular traumatic event would have defined him already. I don’t see the need for so much suffering here, not because it hurt me to read that but because it was simply not necessary. The severity of trauma is not necessarily measured by the amount of times it has been inflicted upon someone. The traumatic events were also quite random in a way they happened in a sequence defined by too much coincidences regarding time and people if that makes sense. Besides all of this I do admire the diversity of the characters, the way the story is connected from beginning to ending and how well the author describes emotions

---

Content Warnings

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

serdean06'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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt