Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

390 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

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

anyatindale's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

does every trauma victim have the ability to recover? to what extent can the love of others heal self-loathing and disgust? can anyone ever heal entirely? what happens to a traumatised person when life does not exclude them from loss and suffering that hurts more than the trauma they once faced? 

a true depiction of the immense unfairness of life, and the love that must exist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Mental illness, Grief, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

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

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

mvdd1's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Car accident, and Ableism

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

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

c_seonjyung's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Infidelity

mellii's review against another edition

challenging sad

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

1.5

What a shitshow. Hated every second of it, still bawled my eyes out at the end. Don't read this if you want to keep your sanity. Missing trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Grief, Rape, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Terminal illness, Vomit, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Child death