Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1921 reviews

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

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

bighunna's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

allymac303's review against another edition

medium-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

1.0

Unrealistic portrayal of the manifestations of severe trauma. Felt like it was written by someone who has never experienced trauma. Also needed to be edited. It was way too long and there were at least 300 useless boring pages that added nothing to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Waste of time!

mrs_sharp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

This book will stay with me forever. Despite that, I will never recommend it to anyone, due to the nature of the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

viet_huongie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

jennnareads333's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Addiction and Car accident

geoneo2001's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

azulmuller's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

amyvl93's review

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

2.75

Nothing makes me feel older than seeing the internet reaction to A Little Life shift from it being discussed as a masterpiece to being almost cancelled for its portrayal of its main character. After my Mum insisted that I read this, I decided to finally take the plunge, in case January wasn't depressing enough.

For anyone who somehow hasn't come across this novel, A Little Life in theory follows a group of four men from their time at college together through their adulthood. However as the novel progresses we zero in on Jude, who is source of mystery to his friends and whose traumatic past and present becomes the focal point of the novel.

I came away from A Little Life feeling confused. It is indisputable that Yanagihara is exceptionally talented at characterisation. The central friendship group in particular - Willem, JB and Malcolm feel incredibly real, as does the slightly rareified art scene they all exist in do. I also really liked Harold and Julia, and how they form a chosen family relationship with Jude. The detail and complexity that Yanighara built into the interactions of all the characters felt both raw and true.

However. And it is a big however. I found the exploration of Jude's trauma and his experience to be unremittingly dark. Whilst I don't buy the complaint that it is unrealistic - as unfortunately cycles of abuse are true and exist - I will say it felt overly heightened. I felt that Yanighara dwelled on descriptions that did not need to have that much time spent on them. Others have said this and I agree that the complete dearth of hope and optimism in this novel made it hard to read - and noting that Yanighara has since said that she actively wanted to write a protaganist that never gets better left me wondering what readers are supposed to take from this other than exhaustion. When the final removal of hope happened in this novel I came close to slamming it down.

I also found Jude a hard protagonist to invest in. He has access to an insane amount of resources, is apparently the most gifted man to walk the planet (can bake and sing exceptionally, in addition to being an exceptional and morally bad lawyer) and exceptionally attractive but seemingly won't take responsibility for trying to address his trauma until it is frankly too late. The novel standing by him, whilst treating others who had also felt loss (such as death of family members, addiction etc) as needing to just get it together felt confusing tonally to me.

I can totally understand why A Little Life caused such as stir when it was first released, but I hope for books in the future that can tackle both the light and the dark that make up human lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Car accident