Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

620 reviews

shirewitchreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Fuck this book. It’s the fact that the app won’t let me list all the warnings. This book is a hate crime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

laurendough's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

1.5

a lot of the reviews encapsulate my thoughts on the author’s approach to writing about trauma, mental health, abuse, sexual violence, medical trauma, etc. which is to say, highly inappropriate and a near glorification of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fri3d_kai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

completely heartbreaking but also a beautiful exploration of friendship, love and life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

icbarka's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-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

4.5

Rough read. It made you ask challenging questions. I learned a lot also. It fell a little flat though I had high expectations. It begged the question “when are you responsible for your own healing?” But also “maybe someone cannot heal at all” Life ain’t good for everyone. It was worth the read but I would search up trigger warnings for those it might concern. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

alvin_lai'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

*SPOILERS* A Little Life is a heavy, and poetically written novel that features themes of trauma, despair and disability

that ends in a predictable tragedy

. The novel feels like Yanagihara’s attempt in creating a visceral, depressing experience for the reader, and perhaps a catharsis that comes with newfound gratitude. However, this catharsis comes from an appreciation for life after witnessing the protagonist’s devastating character development, which, in my opinion, was poorly designed. As the novel progresses, Jude’s traumatic past is uncovered in tandem with present abuse and self-harm. His plot line, as a result, becomes a bombardment of tragedies and a robbery of even the smallest glimmer of hope that appears in his life. As such, Jude’s character becomes increasingly one-dimensional - a traumatised victim who refuses hope from a lack of belief in humanity. He hence becomes hard to relate to and is an unsuccessful vessel in delivering heavy emotional impact on the reader. From another perspective, Yanagihara’s choice to concentrate all types of abuse and traumatic events onto a single character throughout the entire novel could be seen as an over-the-top attempt to justify Jude as a character that is deserving of empathy, painting an unrealistic standard of suffering that is not only hard to relate to, but undermines emotional turmoil that is not backed, or justified, with excessive occurrences of painstaking events. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, 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, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

stacylaughs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

kiwiifizz's review against another edition

I'm sorry I know I'm of an unpopular opinion but yes the writing is well detailed but this is genuinely one of the most darkest books I have ever read and I do enjoy tragic stories and have read several over the years but there comes a point that it's graphic and dark just to check the list I highlighted and bookmarked every dark and good thing that happened and 80% was every bad thing you can think of pretty much.

To enjoy this book is to think like JB to be untraumazied is to be boring and oh how he envied Jude on his trauma.

As a person with childhood trauma I will leave this book at 50% done and will go touch grass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

adrianalei's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

rionne_m's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder and Car accident