Reviews tagging 'Outing'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

57 reviews

jacks_beloved's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.75

This book was a long, long journey (1st April- 18th May, 2022), the degrees of pain it made me experience was incomparable, but in the end, it was worth it. I can clearly see why 'A Little Life' is called a modern classic because goddamnit. In the beginning, it seemed to drag on forever, the writing was absolutely meh, the only notable aspects were the characters of Jude and Willem, but Hanya Yanagihara took the inital ordinariness and created something so incredibly extraordinary in the latter half. (*SPOILER-  Their romance sent butterflies flying through my stomach and Willem's death shattered my heart to the extent that it can never be whole again. The worst part about that was the details, like I genuinely did NOT want to learn how the only thing that made me believe in humanity was crushed from existence. I had to read the part following that at midnight, when I'm practically completely numb otherwise, but I cried twice then too. Now, it's a constant thorn in my side. I'll be going about my day and the sheer reality of Jude and Willem's story comes to mind and it kills me a little every time. I don't know how Jude survived those three years because I wanted to follow after Willem. *) 
This book became a sort of unconventional home for me, naturally, since I spent so long with it. The familiarity of Jude and Willem became my comfort and I can't understand how I'm expected to live normally henceforth. I connect with them on a level it's impossible for even me to comprehend. They are integrated into my very soul. I would sacrifice myself to save them. 
I don't think I'll ever, in my life, pick up this book again because it'll break everything in me forever. This was raw, real, memorable, too damn traumatic to be out on the loose in this world. I've said a lot and still the second-out sufferage this book handed to me is explicable. I could never recommend this to someone because I would never want anyone to go through what I did, but it was definitely a masterpiece I'll always cherish. 

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kirsty_irwin's review against another edition

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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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hammy_down's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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kathryngardyne's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0


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uhjoa's review against another edition

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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

2.5

It will crush you

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akirma's review against another edition

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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

4.5

SAD. Sad, sad book with incredible writing. This could've been one of my all-time favorites, hadn't it 
ended the way it did. The ending gives the whole thing an incredibly depressing message that I don't agree with.

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laner's review against another edition

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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

4.0


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pianizza's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

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emma_louise_rose's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0


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luajup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

two days since i finished this book and still don’t know what/how to talk about it. not ready and honestly don’t think i will be able to be one day.
it’s now my favorite book and definitely best book i’ve read so far this year but it’s so devastating and so heartbreaking that i don’t feel like recommending this one for anyone, sincerely don’t know if it’s worth it even now even though i don’t regret meeting and learning about those dudes. what i can say is: i’ll NEVER forget Jude. And Willem, Harold, Andy.
i’ve learned so much about empathy and life, trauma, friendship, love but still wrecked me and coming from a place of a person who deals with mental health and knew that was not a easy reading i cannot say that i was not warned or prepared but it did not prevented me from being completely shattered after. so with that in mind i will have to say if you want to read it PLEASE DON’T i know it’s hard to do it but just don’t. it completely ruined me and my perspectives on life, i feel like i will never be truly happy the same way i was before reading this book, IT CHANGED ME. but if you still want to do it please be careful, check the trigger warnings, read it when you’re with a stable and healthy life/mind.
That’s all i can think about now, and i see him in everything.

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