Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

762 reviews

jennasykes'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

This book is so heartbreakingly beautiful. The characters are and will become part of your life. Written in 3rd POV, you go into extreme depth on each character - I think about Jude all the time. A true 5 star read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child death, Child abuse, and Sexual content

minimimi's review against another edition

Grotesque trauma porn for the hetero author’s gays—goes far beyond the “Kill your gays” troupe. Technically, this book is horrendous and the editor should think twice about their career.
DONT FALL INTO SUNKEN COST FALLACY JUST BECAUSE THE BOOK IS LONG DOESNT MEAN YOUR REDEMPTION OR CATHARSIS IS COMING—because it’s not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Rape, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Mental illness, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Drug use, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Cursing, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Outing, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse

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

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

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

giulianv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Death, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual violence

jordangoeddertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Vomit, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide

eve_hehehheheh's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Child abuse, and Medical trauma