rainreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-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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palebea's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fucking hell. 
I went into this book totally blind and I don't even know how I managed that. I was looking for a palate cleanser and somehow fell on this. 

I don't recommend it. I think you need to look at the TWs and take them seriously. Don't take them as a challenge. I listened to this book and had the words echoing in my head for months. The emotional turmoil I went through reading this book - I don't think I would have appreciated this if I read this about a year ago when I was in the pits of my own struggles. 

That all said. This book changed how I viewed a lot of things. It's so painfully sad and take painful literally here, I spent hours sobbing. The writing is beautiful, the way the characters develop. The world they live in. Months on and I'm still struggling to really put into words how impactful this book was. On a surface level, I can understand why people regard as it as "trauma porn" but the sad reality of the world is that it just isn't rosy. 

I connected to a lot of the descriptions and experiences of really gnarly MH struggles. It's not comfortable to read about. 

I will re read this book at some point but it's an undertaking I'm so not ready for. 

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fpcat99's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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ashlynregan's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

This is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful novels I have ever read. Treat it with reverence, if not caution. It is not for everyone, but if you’re like me then you will never be able to stop thinking about it.

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sirensreviews's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. After finishing it, I struggled to read other books because nothing compared to how well written and complex this story is. I truly think about this book every single day. 

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willemstfrancis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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 could be a hard read for some, tiktok definitely likes to prompt it as such. mostly, people remember the sad and bad and leave out all the little details of life that jude goes through. genuinely a life changing book. hanya is a person who uses language to rhe fullest, every word and line means something. I just adore it. definitely my most favourite book ever.

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garbche's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No

0.75


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neontulips's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm furious. The craft of this book was so excellent, asides from what I would say amount to some planning and character writing issues that begin about the final quarter of the book, that it bothers me immensely that every lesson in the book emanates such a pessimism, that they all amount essentially to a bleak miserable world that does not do much to fight Jude's contention that his life is not worth living. Around the point in the book where I began to think, wow, Yanagihara really understands that the only way to really go on living is to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known, she created a false world in which it was impossible to allow oneself that relief,
and concluded a story which purports essentially that the people around Jude should have let him go, as a man only fifty, because his life was so hard
. To treat such violence as inevitable is to put that violence into the world. This book is beautiful and miserly and irresponsible. I hated giving it a rating for this purpose.

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libbyyjo's review against another edition

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dark 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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coracanread's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

borderline torture porn for sad gays

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