Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2751 reviews

jochaatuu's review against another edition

Author gave the main character every traumatic experience possible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Car accident, Grief, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

neha_likestoread's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I really liked some parts of this book — how grief is described felt so heartbreaking and the few happy moments were a breath of fresh air.

I also did respect Hanya for exploring challenging questions — is life meaningful? Is life meaningful without children? Can you ever overcome life’s traumas? What is the role of a parent? Are some coping mechanisms okay even if they are harmful? And so on.

Despite that, I felt as if a lot could have been cut from this book and it could have still made a significant impact. For example, there were so many times people’s names were being dropped in the book. Just a whole string of characters names being placed together, many of those characters who we hardly know about, yet there they are being listed again and again.

I’m pretty sure you could cut out Lucien, both Henry Youngs, Julia, Sophie, maybe even Malcolm and you’d still have the story intact.

While I also appreciated the great detail that Hanya went into to describe scenes,

(except for when it came to Jude cutting himself in vivid imagery for the nth time)

it felt like this was taken too far at times and there was little room left for my imagination to do any lifting.

Lastly, the writing, while harrowing and beautiful at times, could also be corny.  For example,

in the chapter ‘happy years’, Jude is recounting his years of life as chapters, giving them each a name. Willem suggests that he call their most recent years together “the happy years”. Yes, part in jest to bring levity to the difficult current circumstances around Jude’s legs. But also in part manifestation, for good things to come. Only to be followed by the death of Willem, Malcolm, and Sophie just a few pages later in a horrific car accident. People say that the trauma in this book is unbelievable. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. But I do think that some of the traumas are set up in very cliche-esque manners, like a telenovela.

 

Nonetheless it’s a very memorable book and I understand those who love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Body shaming, Torture, Sexual assault, Death, Self harm, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, Child abuse, Car accident, and Addiction

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, and Drug abuse

_natti_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Eating disorder

faithvredding'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Emotional abuse, and Child death

mindmouthsoul's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Child death

jv2008's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Suicide, Grief, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

averydriver'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Death, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

rebekkamafia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Drug use, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Car accident, and Vomit

Minor: Transphobia and Racial slurs

reb_lyn's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Rape, and Suicide attempt

thesethie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

While it is beautifully written it was an exhausting read. A lot of the graphic elements felt like they were there just because and didn’t really offer anything additional to the plot. Torture po*n would be another way to describe it. 

Many people talk about how this wrecked them emotionally. I wanted my time back. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship