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A review by izzycarpenito
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
2.0
i usually don't write reviews on here, but something had inspired me to do so cuz ive never been more emotionally conflicted about a book.
first, the good. i really enjoyed the first half of the book. i read it all in two hours. i enjoyed the characters enough, but i was most interested in the main character. he quickly became insufferable to me as literally nothing about him changes over the course of the book.
the bad then, the book is trauma porn, and that's not necessarily bad, but i didn't want to just read 800 pages of characters suffering. another thing that bothered me is that pretty much all the characters are static. the only one who went thru actual personality changes was JB.
in the end, what's the message? i didnt pick up on an intended one, though it became clear to me what the author thinks. sometimes if youre disabled or traumatized or mentally ill youre better off killing yourself and i cant get behind that.
first, the good. i really enjoyed the first half of the book. i read it all in two hours. i enjoyed the characters enough, but i was most interested in the main character. he quickly became insufferable to me as literally nothing about him changes over the course of the book.
the bad then, the book is trauma porn, and that's not necessarily bad, but i didn't want to just read 800 pages of characters suffering. another thing that bothered me is that pretty much all the characters are static. the only one who went thru actual personality changes was JB.
in the end, what's the message? i didnt pick up on an intended one, though it became clear to me what the author thinks. sometimes if youre disabled or traumatized or mentally ill youre better off killing yourself and i cant get behind that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child death, Medical trauma, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Ableism, Eating disorder, Gore, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit