Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

777 reviews

tamagofish's review against another edition

They're staying in "the happy years" and there's nothing you can do to stop me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction and Self harm

Beautifully written trauma porn

denissc2736's review against another edition

A lot of trauma dumping, which I normally like because I love sad books but I didn’t like this one and there was barely any dialogue

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

keikohosoi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

roguesaw's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

This was the best book I have ever read and I can never read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

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

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

bloom2642's review against another edition

Genuinely, the worst book I’ve ever read. Misleading with the opening making you think you’re going to see 4 guys go from graduating college to maturing in the real world. It then turns to focus on one specific character who is competing with every fictional character on the worst backstory I’ve ever seen. Torture porn olympics to the point it gets comedic at times. This alongside the author’s take on therapy; skip this one. There should a trigger warning on the cover of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Massive Trigger Warning. Disgusted by this whole book and its message

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

wssh221's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting