Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

206 reviews

nrougely's review against another edition

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

3.5

Im devastated and grateful to have read it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bailliemayberry's review against another edition

2.25

I have never read a book with as much tragedy as this one. It was really hard for me to get through because of how dark the twists were and how casually they were dropped in. There really should be a trigger warning at the beginning of the book rather than just online because the depth of detail was just not right. I understand Yanagihara's approach in wanting it to be confronting, she wants her story to have a significant impact on the reader, but some of the descriptions were just unnecessary and disgusting.

I will not be recommending this to anybody nor will I be re-reading it at any point in my life.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

payson's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

cinn_vida's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mimisreadsxo's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

acalla7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Read trigger warnings!! This book spans over 50-60 years of a very tormented persons life and the people surrounding him who also have their own traumas and struggles. These characters are deep and feel like real people that I now have known my whole life. I wish I could find Jude in real life to just hold him for days on end. </3 I think it's definitely going to stick with me for a long time but I feel like I learned a lot from it and that's all I can ask for. It's a book that represents many other peoples lives in many different ways. It's not for everybody but when you break it down, isn't that what all art is? For some, this is reality and not just an 800 page story and that's the awful truth of it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

canisand's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jacobandthefrogs's review against another edition

Just actual torture, I truly don’t know what would make her write this book but I hope she has been able to heal from it because I don’t think I will

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

thetinysnail's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, 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, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

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

1.0

This is miserable. My first thought upon finishing this was “what the fuck did I just read?! And why would anyone write this?”. There were some beautiful moments in this and I enjoyed the found family themes, but that was where it stopped. The trauma is overwhelming in this story. The author has stated numerous times that she wanted to create a character that NEVER gets better, which I think is important to understand going into this (and messed up!), as a book like this can be really damaging to read.

Poor Jude 😭 I feel so sorry for him. But I’m more annoyed at the author than sad. I think my main issue with this book is that it lacks sensitivity towards trauma survivors and sends a pretty harmful message suggesting you will never overcome your trauma - which I think is awful. I think the author exploits trauma more than she claims to explore it. This book doesn’t send out much of a positive message, there isn’t some huge resolution that leaves the reader feeling cathartic. Is this torture p*rn? I don’t know if that’s for me to decide but this book just seems unrealistic at times, like the author threw everything at the wall to see what would stick. I know some people find this book to be “real”, which I’m happy you do, but I found her torture of Jude relentless. Her portrayal of race and gender were a bit strange too.

What I’m choosing to take away from this book is that you really do need to treat everyone with kindness, because you have no idea what they may be going through. Sending lots of love to anyone reading this 💛

I ✨DO NOT✨ recommend this book. Do yourself a favour and don’t read this!!!!! I hate this. 🧍🏽‍♀️

My rating: 1/5 ⭐️

Also “nishihara syndrome”???? 😂

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

⚠️ Please see the trigger warnings for this book! ⚠️ There are some really sensitive topics and graphic scenes throughout it. Stating upfront that I don’t recommend this book to anyone!