bethniamh 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

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Maybe if the author had shown any degree of self-restraint, I might have been moved by this in the way she so clearly wants the reader to be. However, she gets so carried away with the catalogue of awful things that happen in this book that I was sat there, eyebrows raised, thinking ‘really??’ on multiple occasions. I’ll probably have more to say at a later point but right now all I can say is that this was a frustrating experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail