vninny 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such brilliant character development. I found myself reacting out loud (ex: “No!” or gasping) and getting tears in my eyes on multiple occasions. And, even though I attempted to prepare myself for the ending, I still sobbed. This is a really heavy book with a variety of distressing topics; survivors of all forms of trauma should check out the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail