A review by riella_reads
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is such a hard book to rate, because I didn't exactly enjoy my time reading this. I originally picked this up 2 years ago and got about 100 pages in. It was a little overwhelming with the different POV's and I couldn't get them straight. I kept telling myself I would pick it back up but I never really wanted to. I am glad I finally got around to it, though. While this was such a sad and tragic story and it is labeled as "trauma porn" (I don't disagree with this label either), it is also beautiful. The sadness and misery of one person who can't stand to be alive, who feels so unloved he isn't even worthy of life will stay with me a long time. There isn't much to say, but if there is anything to take away from this book is that you are always more loved and cared for than you could possibly know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail