babywipe 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

3.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

i felt that the writing was absolutely stunning but the series of events was not plausible. how could all of this happen in succession to one person? i felt it was unrealistic at some points and was just 'misery porn'. i do like how it portrays the struggles of grief and healing from trauma as something that is absolutely not linear and there is no time limit in which you must heal, but how could all of this happen in a real life? i loved the friendship group even though it was dysfunctional.

also how did they all die in a short amount of time like?? that part in harold's chapter at the end threw me for a loop.

all of the characters seemed to be categorised into either good or bad and it was not accurate to real humanity ig

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

it is just misery porn.