Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

373 reviews

alaskanfae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

shivani410's review against another edition

dark sad 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

18ksmith's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Drug abuse, and Dementia

Minor: Homophobia

becphe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

Devastating and so good.  The characters rich and complicated. The relationships felt genuine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

lmayfieldx's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

“𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 & 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬. 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲”

🖤 friendship

🖤 hardship

🖤 trauma

🖤 poc rep

🖤 lgbtqia+ rep

🖤 disability rep

🖤 mental illness rep

in case the list of tws doesn’t speak for itself, this book is extremely dark and heavy. there are graphic descriptions of different situations. please take the tw list seriously to protect your mental health

jude, willem, malcolm, and jb are four friends that have experienced many different things in life together. jude’s life becomes the main focus of the book and we learn about different things that have happened throughout his life to shape him into who he is

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i will think of this book for the rest of my life. the writing is beautiful. the story it tells, although terribly sad, is beautiful. the characters felt so real

a little life shows that sometimes people go through more pain in their life than some will in their entire lives

my heart really broke for jude, because he endured so many things, things that nobody should ever go through 💔

i never cry at anything. my family & friends joke that i’m the ice queen & heartless lol. this book made me cry twice & close to crying several other times. good luck to the criers of the world haha

🚨 there are no spoilers in the slides, but there are spoilers below 🚨

last chance to scroll

something else that i loved (and hated 🥲)  about a little life is that despite the sense of hope that was still felt when things would start to get better, something else would happen. the light at the end of the tunnel came back several times & was repeatedly dimmed until there was not a crack of light left. i think this was so real to include, because some people do not get that sense of relief of things getting better. it shows how brutal life really can be

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

mennaesque's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

don’t read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

juliarenae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

good and heart wrenching but also torture porn. made me feel queasy several times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, 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, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

evieold's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Not a book I could recommend when people asked as it is full of every trauma you could ever imagine.  My heart breaks for all the characters throughout and I had to put it down towards the end (those who have read it will know the point I am talking about) to steel myself emotionally to finish.  However, it is the most comprehensive and deep character development I have ever read in a book and truly describes what it is to love and have lost,  and what I can only imagine it is like to live with such deep trauma.  

Not a fan of trauma for traumas sake as so many brand this genre and books like ‘My Year Of Rest And Relaxation’, but this does not compare as it has a deeper level of truth, of a real life.  

A true masterpiece of what to live a life is like, and the emotions, contradictions, and trauma which can come with it.  A book, although painful, I will read many times more, and that is saying something from someone who does not reread books often if at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, 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, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

theresa_timber's review against another edition

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

Never has a book so utterly and completely shattered my heart. I simultaneously want to recommend this book to everyone capable of handling it, while also burying it deep inside a safe cushioned capsule where nothing bad will happen to the characters ever again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, 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, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dbsuperslayer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, 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, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail