Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1474 reviews

mgavre's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Rape, Medical content, and Death of parent

This is one of the best and worst things I have ever read. I will think of these characters everyday. That being said this book is HEAVY. I would strongly recommend only reading this if you are in a good place mentally. This writer has such a way with words and despite the extremely heavy content of this book there was so much friendship and love in this book.

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

straykat1206's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit

thestarsaresad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

I don't even know what to say. Admittedly, this book was slow. I could barely get myself to read each day because of how long the chapters are; it's like because I knew each chapter would take me an hour minimum to read, I didn't want to. However, looking back on this after finishing, I think it's incredible how Yanagihara has managed to condense decades of life into this story. At times, I was jolted back to reality realizing that decades have gone by in Jude's, Willem's, everyone's lives. To be honest, it kind of reminds me of Bitlife a little bit, how you can see every moment of someone's life, both big and small.

Even though the first 600 pages are brutal to get through, I fully believe that they're necessary for the ending to hit as hard. I spent the last 100 pages of this book ugly-crying, to the point where I didn't even understand how I was able to continue reading. It's not even that Willem's (and Malcolm's and Sophie's) death are that gruesome, it's just the utter SHOCK that it happened. The whole book, we slowly learn about Jude's backstory, about his cutting, and about his constant medical issues -- we're given so much time to prepare for his death. It's because there's no indication at all that it will be Willem who dies first that's so shocking. Even more depressingly, it's life. But what makes the loss hit hard for the reader as well is that we've followed Jude and Willem and everyone in their lives for decades. It feels like we've been by their sides as they've grown up from children to adults. And because we've seen all the little moments, at the end, we too know just how much they have lost. Truly, why would someone want to write this? The saddest part of these last 100 pages -- what made me really cry -- is how it just follows Jude through his grief. It has all the little details of handling grief; there are the little moments, the ups and downs, and the people who are there for you. It feels like you're experiencing the grief of losing someone in your life that you love; it's the little moments that just make you break down. It's just so unfortunate that Jude had finally gotten to this place in his life where he has almost everything he ever wanted, and had to lose the one thing that is most important to him.

I think what truly makes this book great is that it has ALL the moments of life: the good, the bad, the ugly. Good people do good things, good people do bad things, bad people do good things, bad people do bad things. Good people have good things happen to them, good people also have bad things happen to them. Bad people have good things happen to them, bad people also have bad things happen to them. Yanagihara writes life as it actually is, without glossing over the ugly or playing up the good. But mostly, what I loved about this whole journey was seeing just how loved and loving people can be. That's the truest underlying theme.

After taking over a month to read this book, I will say that the amount of time I took to read A Little Life does not equate to how good I found it. Even though I took forever to get into this book and to really enjoy it, it is written so so well. I will say, however, that I don't think I'll be able to read this book again, at least not in the near future. Maybe when it's been years and years and I've completely forgotten what this book is about, then I'll reread it. However, I truly feel that this book is meant to be a one-time read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity, Blood, Dementia, and Abandonment

PLEASE make sure you look over the content warnings before you start. I'm not someone who normally looks at content warnings, and while I don't think it was necessary for me after finishing this book, this was definitely a book full of heavy content. Almost every content warning possible is checked off of the list for this book. What sets it apart for me is that Yanagihara goes into detail for the parts of the book that concern MANY of these content warnings. Even though I know the content warnings here are tiered, I'll provide a list of the content warnings that are most brought up and recurring in this book.

1. Self harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, suicide attempt 2. Adult/minor relationship, pedophilia 3. Physical abuse, rape 4. Medical content, injury/injury detail

Please, I'm telling you! Yanagihara does not hold back on the details, so know what you're getting yourself into. <3

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

anna_2010's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Abandonment

ella_ruby's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

The real question is: did I finish this book or did this book finish me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Violence, Vomit, and Abandonment

lizzy164's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book shattered my heart in good and bad ways, Willem and Jude were my favorite characters and they didn't deserve what they went through. although this book is extremely sad and heartbreaking I loved it and the character development and the plot. i highly recommend but search up trigger warnings before reading it and don't read it if you're not in a good spot mentally. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia and Lesbophobia

jilliand973's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

• The beauty is in the details… I’m beginning to realize I love stories that delve into one event/experience/lifetime by examining or telling the story through different lenses. The vast perceptions of one experience by multiple individuals is so raw and human. It is not for escapism but for deeper appreciation of the reality of humanity and connectedness that I appreciate this type of literature. It is a reminder of what matters, who matters in life. The human experience, relationships, tragedies, etc. in these stories serve as a reminder of how precious those little moments are, in a little life. We all have a world inside of us worth appreciating, as small as we may feel. I love experiencing one character through another, seeing them as they may never see themselves, how beautiful they are. Especially in this book, this is how I came to love these characters. To think I almost wrote this book off due to other’s reviews- I like to believe I am better now that I have read this. I am almost upset I waited two years to read this. Though I also appreciate the timing of reading it now and what is has provided me this moment in my life. This will be one book I know will will stick with me through the years. I am so thankful of the reminders this book provided me, it made me want to call my best friends and my family. Definitely makes you sing “I think I like this little life”.
• Secondly, it is important to note (if recommending this book to others) that it is tragic in a way that can be described as disturbing. It is full of trauma with little to no relief. Read the trigger warnings and if you have even an ounce of doubt that you can handle it, I would err on the side of choosing to sit this one out. I do not agree with the critique that this book is just “trauma porn”. I think- in my opinion- that is a gross over-simplification of the content of this book. Of course, that is subjective. I think there are deeper themes in this book that go beyond the characters’ traumas. This book does not get better. I think it is important (spoilers or not I do not care) to EMPHASIZE this does not get better. I have heard of people feeling traumatized just after reading this book- so it is not be picked up lightly for a “good cry”, it does have a significant impact on the reader (good or bad as reviews will show).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, 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, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

laurrreads's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting