Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Een klein leven by Hanya Yanagihara

1042 reviews

skye_anderson's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

ryoung23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

I think this is going to hold the title for my favorite book of 2024. It was heartbreaking and all so beautiful. It ended in the way I expected, but had some shocking things happen from beginning to end that I didn't expect. Jude deserved all the love he ever received in a life full of hate. I am so thankful that I finally read this book. I don't know if I'll ever read another book like it. 

There are A LOT of trigger warnings in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Dysphoria

Minor: Addiction and Gaslighting

anemosise's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

oh my i am conflicted. understand the criticism deeply, have yet to watch interviews with the author and tbh we'll see if i do! but! my oh my! what effortlessly beautiful writing and what beautiful explorations of human relationships. the dynamics of the (mostly) loveable main characters are so fascinating to me. the beauty of jude slowly learning to stop self-sabotaging his relationships with harold and willem and andy. beautiful. however. i wanted a lot more from jb and especially malcom, and some side characters deserved better development (richard, people at the law firm, caleb, maybe even ana? though I didn't mind some being less developed and simply reappearing names!)

oh and how powerful the ending would have been. if despite everything, despite all the trauma, jude still decided to live. what is the book saying by having him kill himself at the end? some experienced trauma is too unrecoverable for people? i guess I just find that level of pessimism disappointing. gotta think on it more.

i think simply reducing this novel to trauma porn is incredibly reductive of a lot of the work it puts into exploring.. well.. the little moments in life. the people who make the days worth living. yea idk. i think i liked a lot of this, but it left a really uncomfortable distaste in my mouth. man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

xbookno1'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The book so expertly keeps a pace that is both fast and slow - we follow the journey through several decades including different timelines, which could go very wrong or hasty or sluggishly. Yet the scenes are given the time they deserve, the introspection is getting enough space, jumps that span several months or years are well executed and while they don't start with a recap, we do find out what has happened through clever storytelling.

Why not 5 stars? The last part of the book is doesn't feel cohesive with the first ~650 pages. It becomes repetitive, but without adding new insights or twists, and the timing (which is in my opinion the best thing as mentioned above) is off. It feels "just written down" in comparison.

Challenging read, but thanks to the great writing style not as heavy as expected. 

Should have included clear trigger warnings on certain topics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

evax89's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

made me feel like i was going to vomit the first half of the book, the other half i was just wanting it to be over. I understand that these stories need to be told but then on the other side, what did i take away from it? what did i learn? As Andrea Long Chu in her Article for “The Vulture” wrote: “The book’s omniscient narrator seems to be protecting Jude, cradling him in her cocktail-party asides and winding digressions, keeping him alive for a stunning 800 pages. This is not sadism; it is closer to Munchausen by proxy.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

pinkfloydtwisted's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

syellico's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

brzezinski's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.25

Intense. Not for the faint of heart - very heavy/difficult topics that are very detailed. Incredibly insightful exploration of mental illness, trauma, and distorted beliefs/values. It’s very realistic and understandable - the topics addressed are things that are not written about, but happen in our world nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

fledermausii's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

wtf

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dejanira's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Go the therapy or draw 25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism