Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

1171 reviews

ibjilln's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

0.25

No. Fuck this book. 
If you're looking to read this, don't. 
It is nothing but gratuitous misery porn. 
It is not a book about friendship - it is a book about enablers and people taking advantage of one another. 
The characters do not grow, or develop, but instead are simple "plot" devices to keep the pages going and they hash out the same problem over and over again. It's hard to feel anything for them when they do nothing to help themselves/their situation. 
It's 700 pages of Jude unwilling to face reality that he's been horribly mistreated by nearly every one in his world, including his "friends", and in turn mistreating those that do care.

Spoiler

Jude could've saved himself, and us, the pain by ending it 700 pages sooner or fucking accepting help and going to therapy

.
Once again, no. Fuck this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Vomit, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, and Eating disorder

Dead dove; do not eat

luce98's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

One of the hardest reads I’ve ever completed. So sad and filled with trauma.
The characters are so well fleshed out. I feel like I know them as friends. 
Jude St Francis will stay will me for a very very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Blood, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Addiction, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

baggy_taster'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Self harm, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, and Ableism

xiumillion'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

4.5

This book is probably the most masochistic thing I've ever put myself through. It hurts to even think about it, so I'm not going to. Overall, beautiful story and beautiful writing. The cons are that it pretty much is torture p*rn like everyone says it is, at some points unrealistically so, and the timeline of the book is very hard to follow. I enjoy dark stories and I think they should be written, even if for no other purpose than to be dark. I do think this book took it a bit too far though. That aspect aside, it truly is an incredible book, and I already miss the characters dearly.

Please check trigger warnings before you read this book. If you have a trigger, it is probably in here 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Ableism, Car accident, Confinement, Eating disorder, Addiction, Gore, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Suicide

mareikeeve's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Chronic illness, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Addiction, Car accident, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death

danpeachey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Body shaming, Car accident, Chronic illness, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Ableism, Medical content, Outing, Abandonment, and Child death

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

irishrose7777's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

The description of the book is totally misleading. I expected a raw (and probably sad) story of friendships through the decades. Instead it’s like 90 pages of establishing friendships (I think Malcom literally got one chapter) and then 800 pages of trying to see how much unrealistic trauma the author could stuff into one character. It honestly got almost humorous with how many bad breaks one character could have in their life. I understand that the author was trying to create a really “tortured soul” type character but honestly it seems like she was just writing for shock value without actually moving the story forward. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Ableism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Vomit, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

bernie_e2001'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: Emotional abuse, Death, Car accident, Addiction, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Ableism, Confinement, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

heaven_leigh10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Addiction, Child death, Physical abuse, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking