Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1591 reviews

mrsladle's review against another edition

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book and I liked the story, however, the writing was just terribly difficult to get through. Pretentious, pretentious(again), and pretentiously all in one sentence? And a lot of background information about characters who are literally mentioned once and the details were irrelevant to the story. 

Unfortunately, this has been my least favorite read of 2024 as it felt like a chore to read. 😔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Suicide, Car accident, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

thednfdarling's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

I felt like I had been holding in tears, so I knew it was time to read my household copy of A Little Life. I enjoyed the character development (even though some characters were not likable in my opinion), the plot, and the writing style of this book. One of the elements of the book that I really enjoyed was that it showed how friendships grow, evolve, and shift over time. I believe it is so important that we form community outside of the nuclear family structure and I felt that this book did a beautiful job illustrating what building, maintaining, and sustaining a community of loved ones looks like over a lifetime. 

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Content Warnings

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

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

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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

gulnaaz'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Physical abuse, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Eating disorder and Drug use

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

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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

radh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

I've been going back and forth a lot on how to rate this one. I can understand why people love it so much, but also I understand why people have been criticizing it as well. It's definitely not the literary gold some have made it out to be, but it doesn't deserve all the hate and accusations of 'trauma porn' it's gotten either. 
I think the story holds a lot of depth and speaks to important topics, but also it is definitely way too long. My main issue other than the length is that it feels as though the stories being told to you rather than you being enveloped into the story, which is how I judge a book's writing. You should be able to picture the scenes around you, which with this one you can't.  But also because of the gruesome details of the books and it's topics, if it was written in such a way that you would be able to do so, I also feel that the book would be too overwhelming and I wouldn't be able to get through it because of how horrifying it would be. So I'm not quite sure how to feel about that. 
Overall a good book, but not one I could recommend to anyone because you truly have to be in a good mindset to make it through, and it definitely could be shorter. There was also much too much exposition at the beginning that I felt was a bit unneeded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Violence

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.

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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

kayleigh214's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

No other book has ever affected me the way this book has affected me. Even weeks later, I cannot stop thinking about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Death, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual assault, and Rape

abby_grace04's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Blood, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Addiction, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Torture, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Gore, Rape, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

mvdd1's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Car accident, and Ableism