Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

221 reviews

bloom2642's review against another edition

Genuinely, the worst book I’ve ever read. Misleading with the opening making you think you’re going to see 4 guys go from graduating college to maturing in the real world. It then turns to focus on one specific character who is competing with every fictional character on the worst backstory I’ve ever seen. Torture porn olympics to the point it gets comedic at times. This alongside the author’s take on therapy; skip this one. There should a trigger warning on the cover of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Massive Trigger Warning. Disgusted by this whole book and its message

_yush's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

Everything you've heard about the darkness is true and then some!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

glorioes901's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

A little life is by far at the top of my favorite books ever. I never thought I’d enjoy it as much as I did. This book definitely needs trigger warnings and for anyone who’d like to read to get a summary of what it entails. Though in the midst of all the grief, I found the friendships to be the most beautiful, genuine and real depiction of friendships. How they evolve over time, how they’re messy and rooted in complexity. I constantly had the urge to hug the main character and hold them tightly. This book is real, raw, sad and more than anything, honest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Car accident

marebearsbookcave's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

nalinnvr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

Finally fucking finished this! This book is infuriating. Yes, emotional at times, but I did not shed a single tear, which I believe is because of how angry I was at the author throughout the whole thing.
It is somehow beautifully written and a complete disservice to society when it comes to mental health conditions at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Do not read this books without reading through trigger warnings.

averyabw'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism and Kidnapping

chr_car's review against another edition

Yes, I DNFed "A Little Life"! And for one reason in particular: the impact it had on my mental health. I thought I was prepared going into this book. But OMG did I underestimate the effect the story could have on my mental health. Before delving into this a bit more, I'd like to say that the book itself is beautifully written and contains characters felshed out in a way that I haven't seen/ read anywhere else. However, as you spend more and more time in Jude's head, it can have a tremendous (!) effect on your own mental health as well as your reading experience of the book. I read approximately 70% of the book, so I'd gotten relatively far into the story and read some of the most gut- and heart-wrenching scenes of my entire life. I felt especially repulsed (yes, repulsed!) when the meaning of the book title was revealed. I also found some of the relatively detailed self-harm scenes hard to digest. What I also found frustrating after a while was the fact that there was no improvement of Jude's mental health, even when he was in his happy years. Yes, I know that this is supposed to show that even if you have a strong and loving support system around that you and your mental health won't necessarily get better, as this has to come from within. But because of this, your reading experience feels more like an incessant downward spiral than (finally) coming up for fresh air to release some of those negative emotions. And those few moments of levity provide very little comic relief. Maybe I'll pick up this book some time in the future. But for now, I have to put it down and start the new year with something more light-hearted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jackieroybal's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

This book made me genuinely sob the first time I read it. I remember exactly where I was when I finished reading. I think about this novel all the time, quite possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

tyhames's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rasperryjuice's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.75

this one… erm I’D RATHER MY HANDS ROT AND EAT IT AND SPIT IT AND EAT AGAIN THAN READ THIS AGAIN

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail