Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Een klein leven by Hanya Yanagihara

52 reviews

eahhhhh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

It doesn’t matter how many warnings you get about this book being sad or leaving your heart in pieces NOTHING will prepare you for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luciejzql's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

J’ai reposé et recommencé trois fois le livre parce que je n’arrivais pas à dépasser la 2eme partie. 
Pendant la première moitié du livre, j’ai été complètement emportée par l’histoire de ces personnages, par leur manière de fonctionner ensemble et seuls, et intriguée par Jude et son passé. Et puis au milieu du livre, après quelque premiers récits d’horreurs, j’ai compris que le reste du roman irait de mal en pis. C’est tellement complaisant dans la douleur, dans la souffrance, dans l’incapacité à changer que ça en devient gerbant. Jude m’a été insupportable dans le dernier tiers et j’avais hâte de finir le livre pour enfin pouvoir passer à autre chose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

nrougely'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

3.5

Im devastated and grateful to have read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, 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, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, 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, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

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

Minor: Infidelity

lsaunders685'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

aclancy974's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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’m going to be thinking about this for a long time. In the best way. Memorable. Soulful. Moving. But please see content warnings, this could be potentially triggering or you may want to prepare to read differently ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Islamophobia

rainreading's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

hollynewton's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book navigates adult friendships, aging, career paths, addiction, romantic relationships, and family is the most insightful and beautiful way I have ever read. Unfortunately, this all ends around a third of the way in, when the book focuses on one character’s extremely traumatic life. <spoilers> The graphic and excessive descriptions of child rape, self harm and domestic abuse left me desensitised, an effect that I think is harmful to the reader and one that I hope the author did not intend. I understand that Jude’s suffering is the foundation of his character, but Yanagihara’s rendering of his abuse feels sensationalist and in my opinion trauma porn. Whilst a full recovery and happy ending for Jude would have been unrealistic, the sheer volume of physical, psychological, sexual abuse he experiences is so extreme that it feels pointless. Yes, everything that happens to Jude happens to real people, but does it all ever happen to one singular person? Jude is abandoned in an alley as a baby, a child prostitute raped almost daily, a double amputee, has an eating disorder, performs serious self harm almost daily, and loses the love of his life in a car accident. But also, he’s a vastly wealthy and successful lawyer, an exquisite singer of Schubert’s lieder, a professional-grade baker, incredibly good-looking, is adopted as an adult by his ex professor and falls in love with his best friend of 30 years. <spoilers> The result is that the book feels preachy without actually being clear as to what it is preaching; are we to feel guilty that such horrors occur in the world? Empathy for this fictitious anomaly of a person who experiences it all? Grateful for our own normal struggles in life? I’m not sure, but this book was painful to read and without many benefits for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

erikajosephison'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

This book is not for everyone - very important to check all trigger/content warnings before reading. I know the book is controversial (and for good reason) but I really loved the writing and the character profiles that the author created in such a way they felt like real people, like friends I actually knew. I also loved how Time was conveyed throughout the novel as well - without specific dates or years but through occasions and references to those in flashbacks. It is a difficult book, with a lot of confronting topics (even beyond the expected) but worthwhile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Abandonment