A review by risemini
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

adventurous challenging dark informative sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

two months ago i began reading this book and left it unfinished cause i was getting bored; the narration of the stay at the island was unnecessarily long and the least interesting chapter of nortons story. i decided to pick it up again a few days ago and i just finished it. im shocked damn. what a disgusting human being norton is. he's racist, misogynistic and a pedophile, idk how he can be dating someone in the end? and the fact that his partner thinks he's a great person? and also the fact that his partner decided to delete that part of the story when it was the most important one? but anyway, the fact that im actually disgusted means its a well written book, and very realistic as well. i forgot this was a fictional story at various points, the writer did a great job with all the footnotes and newspaper articles etc, there's so many details especially abt the island that im just flabbergasted that someone could create in their mind a story like this. im still confused by some parts of the story though, but this may be cause of the fact that yeah i picked it up after two months and didn't remember everything of what i had already read. anyways, unusual but good book, with a narrator that you'll hate. also explores the topic of colonization. beautiful writing
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