marnash 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

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Wow. Wow. Wow. One of the best books I've ever read. The saddest book I've ever read. I cried five times - twice from joy, three times from hearterenching sorrow. Full on bawling. This book is so moving, touching, all-encompassing. The characters are realistic, human, flawed, so incredibly loveable. The amazing part is that they're also all very distinct and distinguishable from the others, which isn't always easy to accomplish. I also loved how diverse the characters are and how much sexual orientation is a non-issue in the sphere the characters love in. One can only hope all fiction will be written this way one day.
All of this to say - this is a rough one, and waaay better than I anticipated. Just.... wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction

This one's FULL of trigger warnings