Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1893 reviews

fbarros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.25

This book is beautifully written. You get caught up in the characters' lives and feel for them. I loved following the characters through their trials and tribulations and being able to see how they grow older.

However, I feel like the author made very unlikely things happen to the characters just for shock value, and it made me bored, more or less, in the final two parts because of it. It all felt too artificially designed to make you feel something, and it ended up making me feel nothing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Torture, Self harm, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Stalking, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Alcoholism, Drug use, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment

macwoods's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm the first to admit liking a sad story, but this is trauma porn. This book answers the question: how might an author warrant nearly EVERY trigger warning in their work? Do not read this if you are struggling with or recently recovered from an ED or self harming. I wanted to love the book with these lovable, beautiful characters, but I couldn't get past how unlikely the trajectory was for the main character given the seemingly bottomless well of abuse this young man barely crawled out from. The fiction of a meritocracy almost rescuing this character... In fact, all the characters are wildly successful in their careers because glamour/art/money, I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Self harm, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction and Dysphoria

shelbygibbs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Car accident, Child abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Kidnapping

gulnaaz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Physical abuse, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Eating disorder and Drug use

kalynnar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Rape, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death of parent, Vomit, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Death, and Drug use

luziebohnel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I listened to a little live as an audio book. The end destroyed me. The next title that came was hey jude from The Beatles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Car accident

Moderate: Sexual content and Eating disorder

Minor: Toxic relationship

jennifergilbertt's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Car accident, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

radh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I've been going back and forth a lot on how to rate this one. I can understand why people love it so much, but also I understand why people have been criticizing it as well. It's definitely not the literary gold some have made it out to be, but it doesn't deserve all the hate and accusations of 'trauma porn' it's gotten either. 
I think the story holds a lot of depth and speaks to important topics, but also it is definitely way too long. My main issue other than the length is that it feels as though the stories being told to you rather than you being enveloped into the story, which is how I judge a book's writing. You should be able to picture the scenes around you, which with this one you can't.  But also because of the gruesome details of the books and it's topics, if it was written in such a way that you would be able to do so, I also feel that the book would be too overwhelming and I wouldn't be able to get through it because of how horrifying it would be. So I'm not quite sure how to feel about that. 
Overall a good book, but not one I could recommend to anyone because you truly have to be in a good mindset to make it through, and it definitely could be shorter. There was also much too much exposition at the beginning that I felt was a bit unneeded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Violence

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

PLEASE read the content warnings and heed them. This book is dark, and the subject matter is extremely heavy. Jude’s despair is the main focus throughout, but the story does delve into the lives of other characters.

Hanya Yanagihara is an immensely talented author. This book is beautifully written, and you will feel strong emotions about all the characters, be it love or hate. Unfortunately, that means the ones you love will also break your heart, over and over and over.

The story follows four friends from college and the people they meet along the way—the things they’ve lived through, their successes, their struggles, the things they can’t overcome. Please take care of yourself while reading this book and know that you are loved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Car accident, Pedophilia, Self harm, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical trauma, Suicide, Rape, Violence, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Cursing and Infidelity

abby_grace04's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Blood, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Addiction, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Torture, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Gore, Rape, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship