Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2359 reviews

liajodest's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

This book was like breathing. Both painfully and beautifully.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

marinara_xcx's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

Disturbing and triggering at many points, but I could see some of myself in each character and their flaws. I wish the POC characters were given more attention instead of focusing mainly on 2 out of the 4 characters. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

rebeccaroman'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Drug use

scland09's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.75

I think this book was beautifully written, and there were parts I enjoyed. The descriptions of the characters’ relationships, especially at inflection points, were lovely. But in the end a few things bothered me too much to truly like the book. 

First, I can’t understand the narrative choice of introducing us to four main characters in such detail, only to follow two for the next 650 pages. Malcolm and JB went from central characters to “only there to further the plot.” It felt weird to do that to the two Black characters. My other big issue was that Jude’s past felt like a grotesque caricature of trauma. A compelling character study could be made if he had gone through just one or two of the traumas the author describes. The amount and detail of each trauma felt like overkill; they didn’t add anything to the story other than an air of unbelievability. I don’t think “trauma porn” is the right description for a work of fiction, but it really felt like the other asked herself “what is the worst thing that can happen to a person” and decided to add everything she could think of, however outlandish, with no thought to balance. As mentioned, this is what made it go from character study to caricature to me. The other things that bugged me were small — like really? All four friends became so successful in their fields as to have multiple residences on multiple continents? — and I think they irked me more because of my two main issues. Again, though, the writing was beautiful, which saved this from being a 1- or 2-star read for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

yunglouv's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

tamagofish's review against another edition

They're staying in "the happy years" and there's nothing you can do to stop me

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction and Self harm

Beautifully written trauma porn

olivia_anderson's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

biggbean's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, 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, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

themisres's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

0.5

I wish Jude freedom from this author’s horrid imagination.
The way I look at this book changed drastically after I learned about Hanya Yanagihara’s opinions about therapy (how she thinks it’s not really useful and some people are fvcked beyond help) . At first I was fooled to think she had a point with this book but after hearing her talk for more than half a minute, I was quite convinced that she wasn’t capable of making any point. This book is long, boring, and sad just for the sake of it. I kept reading with hopes that it would pick up a little. But it didn’t. I paid a lot of money for this book in my country’s currency, and that was the only motivation I had to finish it.
Reminder for my future self: If a book has like 50 or so content warnings, maybe don’t read it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, 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, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail