Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

468 reviews

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.

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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

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

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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.

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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

rosebud_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

2.75

Too long! ...Too much of everything. People warned me. 

I can't decide if it's a good or bad book. It's just alot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, and Suicide attempt

rmjennsch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

mstevens3697's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

jezebel_444's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, 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, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Dysphoria, 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

madz7's review against another edition

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

5.0

This story will take your soul rip it out throw it on the ground stomp it pour gasoline and then light it on fire before trying to out it back. I’m not one to cry especially when reading but I UGLY CRIED for the a solid hour and a half straight. 

I truly enjoy how this story was told with the different perspectives but focused around Jude. If the 814 pages looks scary you can find the audiobook for free on Spotify as a podcast. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

This book is a story follows the life of Jude who is someone has a fuck ton of trauma as you can see from the triggers above. This book can be very descriptive about some of the topics above and can be troubling for some people. 10/10 would read with caution if you got mental illness but still is a WONDERFUL STORY AND IS WORTH IT

cleotheo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

brutal and gentle
heavy and delicate
sad and beautiful 
I listened to the audiobook on 1x speed for the most part. It was beautifully written and very very long. 
Do yourself a favour and pick the abridged version (I read unabridged) and take the content warnings seriossly!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, 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, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Outing

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Dementia, and Abortion