Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1888 reviews

jubeap's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

It gets so repetitive over a few things like Jude's cutting and how sorry he is for himself. The abuse scenes are many and also repetitive, and I dont feel like this repetition adds to the story. 
I dont believe all stories should have a happy ending, but this is 700 pages of sadness and injustice, and it does make you wonder how much of this is for pure shock? how unlucky can someone actually be?

either way, this is not a light read, and it felt like a drag for much of it. The happy bits, albeit rare, were very very happy and heartwarming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

brittelyza'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, 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, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

itsbumley's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

maleenooo's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I cannot express what this book made me feel. In a way, it ruined me, but in another, it gave me a little hope for the future. A little life is literary masterpiece and the best book I will ever read. Still, I‘m a bit conflicted about recommending it because of its violent and devastating content. 
I read it about a year ago and am still haunted by the characters. I think about them maybe once a week, always getting overwhelmed by their stories, dynamics and love. I would never recommend any of my friends to read this book, but still I want to share it. I would strongly discourage anyone with a history with mental illness to pick up this book, especially if they are still in an ongoing recovery process since it contains a lot of triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

laura007's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

The very last thing written in my copy is the about the author bit, which just says "Hanya Yanagihara lives in New York" and I'd like to add "writes absolutely devastating books that will have an effect on your mental health" 

Getting trough this book only took 25 cries (yes I counted) and like a million pauses to stare into space trying to process what's happening (I couldn't have counted those if I tried, simply because it was not clear when one ended and another started) 

But don't be fooled, I loved this book. Every word of it. I loved the way each line was phrased. I loved how you were told absolutely everything about the characters, making it feel like you knew them. I love the way it broke me, shook me and devastated me (if you spotted a Florence and The Machine reference, you would be right, that was intentional). I have found the book to be devastating in the most beautiful way. 

One of my favorite things about the book is the slow pace, I absolutely loved how it allowed the plot to be developed  fully and perfectly. If you're in the first two parts and you're thinking that nothing is happening - something is, you're just getting to know the characters, you're learning about them, that's going to be so important later on. 

If you're thinking about reading this, I'd say you should. But please proceed with caution. It's a really intense reading experience and you are (at the very least) going to have to take a lot of breaks, while reading. It's pretty much impossible to not take it all in. 

Also, if you are considering reading it - please please please PLEASE, check the trigger warnings, there's a lot and most of it is graphic. Only read it when you're in a good place mentally. 

(side note : this book reminded me of Appointments by Julien Baker, specifically "Maybe it's all gonna turn out alright /I know that it's not, but I have to believe that it is") 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

na0m1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I thought this was super beautiful and well written and I get the hype. I do think

having the Dr Traylor plot was a little much like his character was developed enough with being groomed once felt the second time was overkill…..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse

loureads_07's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.5

A lot of people hated this book because of how triggering it can get, and how incredibly sad the latter part of the story goes. 

Personally, I can related so much with Jude on a mental level and everything he’s been through. Although the incredibly insane things that have happened to him aren’t things that would happen to a lot of people, the very flawed way he views himself is just a very human thing for a mentally ill person mired with trauma does.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, 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

sleepyaquarius's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

1.5

The more I think about this book, the more I fucking hate it.

Technically, it’s great. The writing is in and of itself very good; the author is a very talented writer, the characters voices are distinct, and the prose is great. Hence the half star.

EVERYTHING ELSE IS AWFUL.

This book is the definition of torture and trauma porn. Not just any kind of torture/trauma porn, either; it’s a heterosexual woman throwing an almost comical amount of trauma and abuse at her queer male characters. Not only that, but JB and Malcolm (the only two black characters in the book) are thrown away at the drop of a hat to give Willem and Jude more time--as if over 800 pages isn't enough to give each character an equal amount of development and attention. But if that were the case, how could she possibly fit in all of the torture for Jude?

So, we have a book that continuously torments queer men and tosses aside black men for… what, exactly? Shock value? To make TikTok book reviewers cry on camera and boost sales?

I felt bad for Jude for about the first 2/3 of the book, but eventually I got so fucking tired of him. I also got tired of everyone in his life because they’re all enablers. Someone (SPECIFICALLY Andy, who is a fucking DOCTOR) should have had Jude’s ass institutionalized solely for the amount of self-harm he does. As someone who used to self-harm, the amount of fucking self-harm in this book is obscene. Jude puts every single Tumblr-era emo kid in the world combined to shame. A review done in Vulture by Andrea Long Chu says it all: “The first time [Jude] cuts himself, you are horrified; the 600th time, you wish he would aim.”

Yanagihara has said in interviews that she does not believe in therapy, and thinks that some people are beyond help and that’s what she wanted to write about: someone who is so broken mentally and physically that they are beyond fixing. It is pure ableism. She does not understand victims of assault or trafficking, disabled people, people with PTSD, or queer people, all of which are topics that should be handled with extreme grace (ESPECIALLY if the author is not part of those communities, which Yanagihara is not), and none of it was.

Trigger warning for literally anything you can think of. I do not recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

readingnightingale's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic 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, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia, Infertility, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Classism