Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Een klein leven by Hanya Yanagihara

1060 reviews

karkei's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Where does one start with this book? 

I can hardly conceive that life can be so harsh to one person. My heart goes out to Jude. He’s a character that you constantly want to protect. How privileged we are that most of us may never truly understand the full depths of what Jude has gone through. 

I will not pretend to be an angel though. There were many points that I got frustrated at Jude, like “Can’t you see how you are hurting the people you love? Can’t you see how much they are doing for you?” But then, I come back to myself and I feel guilty - I’m no better than JB, all self centered and discounting Jude in his entirety. Or maybe worse, because JB doesn’t actually know what happened to Jude and I do 🥲

I like to think that just with the people who love him though, loving someone is taking all of them. I love Jude and I care for him and hence, I wanted him to see himself as worthy and I wanted him to survive and be happy. 

What I originally thought was a story about Jude, however, ends up being a story about Willem. And where do I start with this? 

Willem, you are the most patient, kind, loving character.

I did not see that accident coming and I truly mourned for you.

You gave Jude so much love and were so understanding. Most people couldn’t have done what you did. 

To Harold and Andy, you also have a special place in my heart. 

A Little Life was a book I was scared to pick up because all I heard about it was that it was highly traumatic. While there was trauma, however, this book went way beyond that for me. It is a reminder of how unforgiving but beautiful life can be and how fortunate we should all be for our little lives ❤️ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Car accident

captdummy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

selimhannah's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

baumej's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

A Little Life was…….. tough to read. I had a hard time deciding how I felt about the book, so much so that I’m coming to this review about two weeks after finishing. I think what’s so challenging about deciding how I feel about this book is the fact that Yanagihara’s prose is one of a kind. There are several passages in the book that verbalized feelings that I had never before put to words, that were so beautiful they had me tearing up. Unfortunately the main character Jude’s story is just… unbelievable. Truly I had a hard time believing that his life was something that could actually happen to someone in the world. It broke my enjoyment of the book several times and had me feeling that the author was just exemplifying the trope of gay people as vessels of trauma. I could not handle it and had several eye rolls reading this. So, I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this book. I loved parts of it, I hated other parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction

jjajangmel's review against another edition

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

i was not the same person i was 1 book ago… this book broke me… 5 star review will come when i’m ready to move on 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

ka_cam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75

This book is a lot. Strongly encourage reviewing content warnings. Well written and at times moving exploration of the impacts of trauma and love, especially friendship and chosen family, through the years. However many parts of the story felt excessive and flat-

The trauma Jude experienced was… gratuitous and frankly unrealistic. It felt like the author wanted a childhood as horrific as possible set 100 years before the young adulthood- what Catholic monastery (not orphanage or school) would be allowed by superiors and the state to raise a child? What child would, multiple times, be taken to many doctors and later attend public school with clear, visible, severe injuries known to be due to ‘breaking the rules’ and not encounter state intervention, however ineffective, at any point? Would a child in state care with a history of sex trafficking and abuse not be assigned a social worker or monitored for continued sexual abuse in any way? Never forced to sit through group or individual therapy, however ineffective? Just cut loose from foster care well before their 18th birthday without an emancipation or other process to attend college out of state? It just got harder and harder to believe and it took me out of the story a lot. Likewise while the love and devotion of his adult friends, doctor, and adoptive parents was heartwarming it was sometimes pure to the point of flatness, only Willem really reacted to J’s serious mental health issues with mental health issues of his own/poor reactions. They at times read like martyrs to the concept of healing trauma more than full characters

 All to say, the character development and research into the systems (Catholic, social service, medical, etc) involved felt lacking to a distracting degree. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Dementia

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

oscarlavista's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

• 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

Unrelenting tragedy and heartbreak. I don't think I could ever recommend this to anyone but I also think everyone should find the time to read it. 
It's slow, it trudges, and it hits so hard right in the heart. It's awful. I knew it would be, but I was so compelled to give it the time it deserved. It's simply a modern classic that should never be experienced by anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Car accident, and Abandonment

steph_nielson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

ariannecone's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

Estoy devastada pero lo he amado mucho no tengo palabras 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria