Take a photo of a barcode or cover
socolorfull 's review for:
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Every criticism you've heard about this book is absolutely correct. Still, I'm the curious type, and people love to discuss this book on the internet, so I had to check it out.
I would absolutely not recommend this book to anyone with any kind of self-harm, eating disorder, or suicidal history. You will be triggered to hell and back. Skip it, for the sake of your mental health. I'm serious. Skip. It. This book needs every single content warning there is.
If you have ever loved someone who is so severely struggling with their mental health that you fear for their life, the characters in this book will resonate with you. My God will it resonate with you.
However, the book was extremely and unnecessarily graphic and the amount of trauma was also maturely cartoonist, if that makes any sense, and also unnecessary for the story wanting to be told. We also don't need a heaping serving of trauma to tell the story of deep love that defies romantic expectations.
I will say that, despite the many shortcomings of the book, there was enough snippets of something worth saying and a curiosity for what the lives of these men would turn into that I kept wanting to come back to the book.... Until I had about 25% left of the book and I started to lose interest. With such little of the book left, I sludged onward, but the last quarter of the book was poor compared to the rest. This could have probably been easily condensed into a 500 page book had the gruesome descriptions of pain been removed and the ending tightened up.
Overall, I WOULD NOT recommend this book to most people. There are better books that touch on some of the same themes that this one does without further stigmatizing seeking mental health help and glamorizing codependent relationships.
I would absolutely not recommend this book to anyone with any kind of self-harm, eating disorder, or suicidal history. You will be triggered to hell and back. Skip it, for the sake of your mental health. I'm serious. Skip. It. This book needs every single content warning there is.
If you have ever loved someone who is so severely struggling with their mental health that you fear for their life, the characters in this book will resonate with you. My God will it resonate with you.
However, the book was extremely and unnecessarily graphic and the amount of trauma was also maturely cartoonist, if that makes any sense, and also unnecessary for the story wanting to be told. We also don't need a heaping serving of trauma to tell the story of deep love that defies romantic expectations.
I will say that, despite the many shortcomings of the book, there was enough snippets of something worth saying and a curiosity for what the lives of these men would turn into that I kept wanting to come back to the book.... Until I had about 25% left of the book and I started to lose interest. With such little of the book left, I sludged onward, but the last quarter of the book was poor compared to the rest. This could have probably been easily condensed into a 500 page book had the gruesome descriptions of pain been removed and the ending tightened up.
Overall, I WOULD NOT recommend this book to most people. There are better books that touch on some of the same themes that this one does without further stigmatizing seeking mental health help and glamorizing codependent relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship