Reviews

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

mercmcgoon's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring lighthearted 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

saniya18's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

geoffry's review against another edition

5.0

Dit boek maakt je kapot. De eerste keer dat ik me fysiek onwel voelde bij bepaalde passages. De eerste keer dat ik vriendschap en liefde op zo'n rauwe, eerlijke manier heb zien beschreven worden. De eerste keer dat ik een boek met tranen afsluit.

vviolaceous'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? It's complicated

3.75

nightfold's review against another edition

4.0

This book gave me depression

hotmesslibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

There is a beautiful book around the the obligations and rules of friendship, understanding your self and the hard lessons you learn as you get older in here somewhere. Unfortunately that beautiful story, is taken over by gratuitous trauma and graphic memories that make the book hard to get through. A character can have a tragic life without the author throwing every unspeakable plot their way and being so graphic about the unspeakable plots. The character with a tragic life becomes less human through this writing and it's so unfortunate as it goes against the larger theme of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Self harm, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death

milemorozin's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

4.0

molly9900's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.0

goldenwillow's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No

0.25

gabigw'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

For me this book crossed the line from a beautiful, dark book to an almost exploitative exercise in extremism. While the prose is beautiful and I cared deeply about the characters, I wondered many times about the motivation of the author. Did she want to shed light on the trauma and injustice some people are forced to endure? Or did she want to make a spectacle of trauma and of queer relationships to create a book that would get people talking? Not talking about the issues, but about the book; and about her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Classism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Car accident, Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault