Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

88 reviews

soumya_singhal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Colonisation, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship

reverielms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

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GOD WHAT THE FUCK YANAGIHARA

the book started off really strong in terms of character focus, all very tangible and somewhat relatable (either in their self hatred or selfishness) and fleshed out. in terms of the rest of the plot, it seemed as if the author kind of threw the big failed suicide plot and car crash into the mix of things just to mess with the reader (was it really necessary??) 

bloody hell jude’s self loathing and cutting was too vivid. towards the end of the novel it just dragged on without necessity and maybe a quarter into the book jude becomes the protagonist. 
 
i wish there was more exploration of malcolm (and JB)‘s storylines; particularly malcolm  just kind of fizzled out after his intro in the first chapter and became less important than richard and andy

overall really solid and gripping character-driven novel, too needy towards the end and honestly an overload of trauma dumping, sometimes (most of the time) unnecessarily if not to emotionally manipulate the reader

i thought after the suicide attempt halfway through the book there was no more to say, and having willem and jude end up together was really interesting, seeing their dynamic change and how despite their relationship being the best thing to happen to jude in terms of trauma rebuilding, it was not how i expected things to turn out (which was interesting to read about)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Body horror, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Violence, Bullying, Pedophilia, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Moderate: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Dementia

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

So I'll start with the little I liked, the theme that life can deal you a motherfucker but the ppl who care about you can make it better. I think Jude's life would have been much much shorter if he hadn't had the ppl in his life he did. However this book was straight up trauma porn. It says it's about 4 friends but Malcolm's POV disappears immediately bc his life is too trauma free and everyone else you get the POV is just for the bad things that happen to them, I'm not going to list them but none of these characters feel fleshed out or real because of this. The book just feels extremely voyueristic in it's depictions, the good times characters have are mentioned in passing and instead you get gratuitous CSA, abuse, and self harm

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Racial slurs and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

A Little Life was difficult to put down, difficult to dream about, difficult not to dwell on for hours in the middle of the night. Yanagihara's respectful, relatively sparse depictions of a laundry list of traumas made this book tolerable, while her depictions of human goodness and joy made this book hopeful and beautiful. Particularly impressive were the author's careful detailing of fictional artworks, fictional movies, fictional law cases, fictional renovations, etc. An engrossing and extraordinary feat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Infidelity, and Vomit

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Racial slurs, Alcohol, and Drug use

mal__ori's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

alicesloan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Bullying, Cursing, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

larny10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Violence, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

golden_like_dior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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: Abandonment, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Vomit, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Addiction, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Body shaming, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Rape, and Suicide

jdonahue13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.25

It was so good for such a long time. It practically had a spell over me and then one plot decision snapped me it of it. But the last chapter was incredibly poignant and the whole book is beautifully written it was still a worthwhile read, it was just a bit of a let down when the spell was broken (and maybe I’m being even more harsh than I would have been if the book wasn’t so good to begin with, so there’s that. Also I know everyone says this but definitely look at the trigger warnings before reading. I don’t have personal experience with this content and it was still an incredibly harrowing read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Dementia and Outing

zeegy'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? Yes

5.0

Oliver Wyman was an amazing narrator. His voices were distinct and the emotion he brought to each character was breathtaking. I have read this book a handful of times and each time I cried but this time. The way Harold's ending story to Willem was narrated, the emotion in "It isn't only that he died, or how he died; it is what he died believing. And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him." the way he sounds like this entire retelling hurts for him to say. It's how he said "I am Willem Ragnarsson and I will never let you go" the anguish in parts that are sad. The joy, quiet joy, in the small moments where everything was okay. It gave me an entirely new experience with the book and I'd definitely listen again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Dementia, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse