Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2797 reviews

statfan21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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 is the greatest book I have ever read. I’ve never felt so connected to characters before. While reading I find myself telling stories from this book as if they’re stories of a friend of mine. I’ll mention “my friend JB…” and then remember that they’re just book characters. I’ve never felt more seen in my life by anything ever. Of course there’s many, many differences between my life and Jude’s, but the way he thinks and acts, I didn’t think anyone else thought or acted like this. It took until I was 21 years old to realize that maybe there is someone out there who actually does understand me. Which makes this both heartbreaking but also healing. I’ve never been this affected by a piece of media before. I will never forget this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

torilehman28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

skye_anderson's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

ryoung23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I think this is going to hold the title for my favorite book of 2024. It was heartbreaking and all so beautiful. It ended in the way I expected, but had some shocking things happen from beginning to end that I didn't expect. Jude deserved all the love he ever received in a life full of hate. I am so thankful that I finally read this book. I don't know if I'll ever read another book like it. 

There are A LOT of trigger warnings in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Dysphoria

Minor: Addiction and Gaslighting

anemosise's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

oh my i am conflicted. understand the criticism deeply, have yet to watch interviews with the author and tbh we'll see if i do! but! my oh my! what effortlessly beautiful writing and what beautiful explorations of human relationships. the dynamics of the (mostly) loveable main characters are so fascinating to me. the beauty of jude slowly learning to stop self-sabotaging his relationships with harold and willem and andy. beautiful. however. i wanted a lot more from jb and especially malcom, and some side characters deserved better development (richard, people at the law firm, caleb, maybe even ana? though I didn't mind some being less developed and simply reappearing names!)

oh and how powerful the ending would have been. if despite everything, despite all the trauma, jude still decided to live. what is the book saying by having him kill himself at the end? some experienced trauma is too unrecoverable for people? i guess I just find that level of pessimism disappointing. gotta think on it more.

i think simply reducing this novel to trauma porn is incredibly reductive of a lot of the work it puts into exploring.. well.. the little moments in life. the people who make the days worth living. yea idk. i think i liked a lot of this, but it left a really uncomfortable distaste in my mouth. man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, 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, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

lenneke_roekel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.5

How does one even rare this book?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Grief

strawberryfairy__'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

xbookno1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The book so expertly keeps a pace that is both fast and slow - we follow the journey through several decades including different timelines, which could go very wrong or hasty or sluggishly. Yet the scenes are given the time they deserve, the introspection is getting enough space, jumps that span several months or years are well executed and while they don't start with a recap, we do find out what has happened through clever storytelling.

Why not 5 stars? The last part of the book is doesn't feel cohesive with the first ~650 pages. It becomes repetitive, but without adding new insights or twists, and the timing (which is in my opinion the best thing as mentioned above) is off. It feels "just written down" in comparison.

Challenging read, but thanks to the great writing style not as heavy as expected. 

Should have included clear trigger warnings on certain topics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

nicole_switzer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

A little life is a beautiful depiction of the horrible, deeply troubling life of the MC, Jude St. Francis. The writing in this book has such an incredible, rhythmic beauty about it. It makes the saddest, most devastating scenes so exquisite. The metaphors and similes are wildly imaginative. The story unfolds in a complicated web of multiple timelines, back and forth in a way that, at first, made my head spin. However, as I got more into the book, it was easier to understand. 

I do think that TikTok overhypes this book. It was beautiful and a devastating story, but it was (occasionally) predictable and a little repetitive. By the time I hit page 650/700, I found there wasn't anything new or interesting to be said. I struggled through the last 100-150 page, as they were nearly the same page again and again and again. 

It is a beautiful book, well worth the read. I am glad I had it on both audiobook and physical copy though. I would recommend the mixed media method. Also, please check your triggers before reading this book. Triggers for SA, self-harm, suicide and nearly everything in between. 

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Content Warnings

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

miiillia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Its definitely a longer read but so worth it. The way it is written truly lets you in on the characters lives. I don‘t remember the last time a book has made them come alive to such an extent. It is gut wrenching yet beautiful and I had a hard time putting it down. 

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Content Warnings

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