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lizzy164's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Transphobia and Lesbophobia
mistydes1re's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment
bailliemayberry's review against another edition
2.25
I will not be recommending this to anybody nor will I be re-reading it at any point in my life.
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
caitlin_d89's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
libraryofsachi's review against another edition
- 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
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!laylamaethaila's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
malace0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Eating disorder and Racism
Minor: Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment
howlchemy's review against another edition
- 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
i'm not taking back my 5* rating, because i (unfortunately?) really enjoyed this book and there are certain aspects to which i relate to but, after months of pondering, i cannot recommend this book anymore. and i am very sorry to the people i have recommended this to.
a really good way to start this is by letting you guys read this article by andrea long chu for the vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/hanya-yanagihara-review.html.
or also, a youtube video:
https://youtu.be/JpZF7O0jezg?si=pWTZBw6LiELRv7Tz
it took so long, but i finally opened up my eyes to the writing style, plot and to the author herself. for a really long time, i did not believe that were people were saying that hanya loves to write gay characters suffering but oh my god, she really does. it's some weird, f*cked up fetishising view on gay people, specially men who seem to be the focus of her books. she's always writing about the most stereotypical things about gay man (like having aids, being victims of SA and/or physical abuse, etc) and some of us have fallen the tiktok rabbit hole of eating this sh*t up.
in a lot of ways, i relate to jude, hence why i have loved this book and i always backed up my opinion by saying jude is the personification of so many people (as if he's the bearer of all the possibly bad things that can happen to a human being), but i simply CAN'T agree with myself. hanya yanagihara just loves writing about weak, sickly young gay men being tortured beyond comprehension. there's never a happy ending, and i know it doesn't have to, but yanagihara probably gets off on seeing miserable people.
not to mention that she is so uncultured, to an extent that made ME feel uncultured. the things that went over my head because she, quite literally, triggered me so much to the point of sobbing on my couch at 10 am finishing this godforsaken book. i think it gave me trauma. this woman has done zero research about the queer community, about therapy, about mental health - all topics she has mentioned over and over and over again in her book(s). she quite literally believes that, if you're so miserable, just k*ll yourself! .... anyway, bold of her to think that way when she coddles her characters so badly, she makes them suffer, nurses them back to health, to put them again at the brink of death, just to repeat the process all over again, until it's time to push them off the edge.
another note i'd like to make, related to my last point, is that "a little life" is just your average ikea manual instructions on how to self-harm. this was brought to my attention in the video i have linked above, and i think it's absolutely mental the amount of times yanagihara writes detailed, gore filed, vomit inducing passages of self-harm. as someone who struggles with that, at first, i felt seen but it came to a point that i couldn't fathom why the depictions had to become more and more disturbing as time went on.
to finish my thoughts, i leave you with my favourite quote from the article by andrea:
"The first time he cuts himself, you are horrified; the 600th time, you wish he would aim."
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Moderate: Eating disorder, Racism, Vomit, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia
daniel195evans's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
madisone's review
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia