Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

142 reviews

loglew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

The style of writing in this book is absolutely beautiful - although dense at some points I appreciate the switch between characters perspectives 

WOW what a wild ride this book was. I knew it was going to be sad and at the beginning knowing Jude was at monastery I was like yeah I know where this is going but there was so much more to come. BUT, even amidst all the darkness, all the horribleness, all the terribleness of both other people and life itself, the glimpses of a happy life and happy moments in life shine through in this book. Yes there may be struggle but there is good with the bad. Finding lifelong friends, becoming extremely successful, traveling the world, having a personal doctor/friend who can take care of you, being adopted by loving parents, a surprise relationship that transcended traditional sexuality… the list goes on. 

This book captures the most beautiful and the ugliest aspects of a life time. It was an invigorating read for sure. Just finished ugly crying for the last 100 pages or so 🙃

The only thing I’m thinking about that I’m wondering why it was included and what the intention was is why the heck did JB kiss Jude toward the end… did he do it as like a friend thing to make him feel better or was there underlying intention that he wanted to be with Jude..? It was kind of brushed over. JB was probably my least favorite character by far which is why I be thinking about this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

wine_n_witchcraft's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

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

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

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

diabro87's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, 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, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, 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, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

horrorfan37's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, 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, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kiwiifizz's review against another edition

I'm sorry I know I'm of an unpopular opinion but yes the writing is well detailed but this is genuinely one of the most darkest books I have ever read and I do enjoy tragic stories and have read several over the years but there comes a point that it's graphic and dark just to check the list I highlighted and bookmarked every dark and good thing that happened and 80% was every bad thing you can think of pretty much.

To enjoy this book is to think like JB to be untraumazied is to be boring and oh how he envied Jude on his trauma.

As a person with childhood trauma I will leave this book at 50% done and will go touch grass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

sannidhim's review against another edition

emotional sad

5.0

when i finished this it felt like i'd been run over by a car. haunting... on the one hand the characters felt so real I still think about them months later... on the other hand these thoughts make me want to throw up... couldn't stop reading but kind of regret it. these people needed Saving Our Own Lives by Shira Hassan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment