Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2993 reviews

noiraet's review against another edition

dark

1.0

Didn’t like this at all. The first 100 pages were fine - then the story took a turn and devolved into what felt like 600+ pages of a cartoonishly over-the-top, gratuitous suffering/trauma fantasy that gave off the vibe of a self-indulgent, fetishistic fanfiction. Decided to take one more star off for the deeply problematic, *dangerously uninformed* ideas about mental illness, pedophilia and queerness propagated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Suicide

Moderate: Death

tazch1701's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

The prose of this book is exquisite. Adored the writing of the friendship dynamic. Especially appreciated Willem's thoughts regarding Jude, his career, his parents etc. It felt very real and really grounded the character.
With regards to Jude, I wish there was more of an exploration of his thoughts and how his adverse childhood shaped his self worth as an adult. It was easy to extrapolate the fact that what happened to him as a child is what makes him act the way he does as an adult, but I specifically would have liked to have seen an explanation of that in his own words/ inner monologue.
I have a major issue with the end. It could have been a brilliant way to explore how choosing to take the steps to recover doesn't always mean you will recover. Or the fact that recovery is not linear, that normal is different or almost has no meaning at all when your childhood has been so wrought with strife. An aspect of mental health I think is ill explored is the very real risk of actually not seeing improvement despite leaning on a support system and taking steps to get better, if the book explored that it would have felt complete. Instead, it ended in a way that makes the book seem like its only purpose was to make Jude suffer physical abuse from either other or himself.  Not to say Jude's ending didnt make sense, given what happened to Willem I fully understand why he did what he did. But it robbed readers of an ending that would have left us a little more enlightened and equally as heartbroken.
I still have to rate the book fairly highly despite how much I hated the ending because its taken up so much space in my mind and its taken me almost a year to properly articulate my thoughts on it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Rape, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Body shaming, Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Body horror, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Violence, Ableism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Self harm, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

janhac28's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Chronic illness, Suicide, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

chiawo's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Eating disorder

isis_wm's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Incredibly well written. Usually I’d consider an 800-page book quite a challenge, but reading this went so easily. There were moments where I couldn’t put the book down, but there were also times it felt like I wasn’t progressing. I don’t deny the fact that it’s a great book, but I do think that the author kept on stacking trauma upon trauma to make the main character’s suffering even more intense even though just a singular traumatic event would have defined him already. I don’t see the need for so much suffering here, not because it hurt me to read that but because it was simply not necessary. The severity of trauma is not necessarily measured by the amount of times it has been inflicted upon someone. The traumatic events were also quite random in a way they happened in a sequence defined by too much coincidences regarding time and people if that makes sense. Besides all of this I do admire the diversity of the characters, the way the story is connected from beginning to ending and how well the author describes emotions

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Content Warnings

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

serdean06's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

littletoopalta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

adholmes3's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

soyboysimon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Marked the page every time I cried. The total was 39. Thats really all you need to know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Confinement, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Blood, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Torture, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

bee2792's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Self harm, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction and Ableism

Minor: Forced institutionalization