Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

42 reviews

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

If ever a content warning was needed for a book, it's this one. Beautiful writing paired with a haunting and vile faux memoir tragically based on some true events. 

The epilogue and post script literally had me holding back gags and left me feeling nauseated. 

I highly recommend the audiobook; being able to really hear Ronald's notes and emphasis on things makes all the difference imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Child abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Death, Cultural appropriation, and Rape

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexism, Suicide, and Medical content

muccycloud's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I hated this book but I also could not stop reading it. The main character is deplorable, horrific, I would not choose to read this again. I kind of want to scrub it from my brain. But it was well written and despite it being horrific felt the need to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Racism, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Suicide, Medical trauma, Sexism, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Rape

harryjandrews_99'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

After reading A Little Life just over a year ago and loving it, I was intrigued to read more of Yanagihara’s work. The People In The Trees was a compelling yet awful story and with an unreliable narrator you can’t trust and even despise. It made for a very interesting read, despite its heavy themes, and the thing that I love most about Yanagihara’s work is her ease with which she can make you feel for a character. Whether that be love and pity (as in A Little Life) or despise and hatred (as with The People In The Trees)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape

arifairy's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Xenophobia

tom_om's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

sarasanchez's review against another edition

challenging dark

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

Moderate: Racism and Misogyny

francesburnett's review

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Suicide

vireojay's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this book is deeply disturbing in many creative ways, but also ways that are all too familiar when dealing with colonially-minded white men. it’s rare that a book makes me physically cringe and shudder, but this one did several times. it was certainly original. it could be a little boring and repetitive at times, but still intriguing.

i wouldn’t say i enjoyed this book, but it is so disturbingly stark and honest in its abhorrence that you can’t help but keep reading. it was like seeing a horrible car crash that just keeps getting worse and being unable to look away until the final car has flipped over and the last person has been thrown from their seat into the road. it deals with several destructive ideologies that are all too relevant at present. the parallels to current events and the desolation of Indigenous cultures and lands was eerie and devastating.

it can be enjoyable or at least interesting to read a book where the protagonist is an awful person. sometimes there is enough nuance, enough charming qualities and character development, that it feels satisfying. however this narrator is just so terrible and is mostly oblivious to it. the few times he attempts to take responsibility or show remorse are ultimately abandoned as a result of his inherent selfishness. through the whole book you hope to understand the motivations of the narrator, you hope he will learn from his mistakes and he fails time and again. you’re also waiting for a “big reveal” of how the narrator ended up where he is now and i don’t know how else to put it, but it is more fucked up than you’re expecting. 

i never really write book reviews, so obviously this book struck a chord with me and gave me a lot to think about. to be clear, this review is not a criticism of the book as a whole. it is well-written, convincing and creative. it accomplishes what i believe the author set out to do, which is to make you feel big, uncomfortable emotions. also to write about very real things, that continue to happen to Indigenous people, in a way that blatantly highlights how absurdly cruel it all is. overall not a bad book, but very heavy 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Ableism, Racism, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

carole_clement's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

these are the memoires of Norton, edited by longtime friend and lawyer Ron.

At the beginning Norton is not lovable. An animal abuser "in the name of science" He does not recognize his own emotions. As he grows up Norton becomes more understanding and empathic. His brother, Owen comes out to him in a funny way. Norton didn't realise it at the time. Because Norton has feelings for his mentor, Tallent, I feel like Norton is also gay. This is not a big issue or topic in the book. The book is a commentary on colonialism, climate change.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Suicide

grazzzo's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

i spent the whole book looking for clues in the text and footnotes about what would happen later on, thinking all the scientific info and stuff about phillip tallent perina would be important to then get to the end and realise it was just an autobiography rather than a mystery. and i was wondering why include such information about a mythological turtle which provides immortality if the last 50 pages are going to have nothing to do with this plot, if immortality will in fact play no role in it - but i realised it was norton's going to the island that would cause its destruction, cause him to have to adopt the children, and give him opportunity to do what he did. so the turtle plot was just a set up for the main plotline - which is a metaphor for and criticism of colonisation

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal death, Rape, Colonisation, Dementia, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Pedophilia