Scan barcode
wormgirl's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
aseel_reads's review against another edition
reflective
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? It's complicated
2.75
This book was way too long for what it tried to deliver. I did like the message/the whole point of the future pov but I do think there were some messy mental health rep, that bordered on problematic.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
isobel_laura's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Racism, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
annieo15's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The sections of this book weave together in a fascinating, imaginative way. Yanagihara develops three plots and sets of characters that, when combined, offer reflective insight into relationship dynamics, societal and familial standards, and what it means to be a flawed human. I feared this would not live up to the reputation of her previous novel, but it is entirely different and equally enthralling.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
CW: pandemic, lab testing on animals, armed police, dystopia, military law, radicalisation/terrorism, chronic illness, seizures, environmental destruction, arranged marriage, internment camps etc.
Spanning roughly 200 hundred years this is a book about a world similar to our own but subtly different. It starts in the 1890s in an America which has some areas where it is legal to marry anyone you wish. It discusses 1990s in the same place only with a backdrop of the looming spectre of HIV. The final part is in the 2090s after waves of pandemics have changed the face of the First World into a dystopian vision of strict controls and segregation.
The book discusses health and frailty, chronic illness, being gay, the idea of inheritance and Legacy, life and treatment of migrants of ethnic minority, and love, feud, vulnerability, and .. people being people.
When I got the audiobook I had no idea it was such a long read (over 900 pages or 28+hours in the Audiobook) but the story wasn't really slow.. it just had a LOT in it. It seemed a poetic decision to have a recurring set of names and places. Partly this was to reinforce the continuity of lineage, inheritance and flow of time. Looking at things from different cultural perspectives over time highlights the changes caused by the passage of time, but also the similarities.
This book is artful and tells the stories within it through letters, memories, and stories told to others. It leans hard into the Hawaiian / Pacific Islands' oral tradition, and also highlights the place of those shared stories we tell each other, and how they cement families and communities. It also shows how that knowledge can be so fragile and be lost to time when ideas are not shared or if they cannot be passed on well.
This story starts as a piece of historical speculative fiction, but the latter parts of the book are set in a police state. Published in 2022, this book clearly channels a lot of the common ground we have experienced in the face of global pandemic. Freedom of information, and the radicalisation of rebels and conspiracy theorists against government control, are sympathetically highlighted by the use of main characters on both sides of the fence, one working for the government to limit the casualties of disease, and one fighting against government misinformation and lack of social freedoms.
For all the big ideas, the thing that really sells this whole book to me is the solid characters. The feelings expressed and the stuff they are going through really resonate with me. A number of the characters over the span of the book deal with anxiety, trauma and chronic physical illness. The relationships formed are often oddly unbalanced, either due to finances, physical/emotional frailty, or even just charisma, and the problems those couples have feel very real to me.
I could go on, but it would be too much. The characters were believable and human, and representation of disability and mental illness was relatable. The discussion of migrants and ethnic minority was an element I valued, and I loved that with the use of Hawaiian language I could still pick up one word in three due to its similarity with te reo Māori (which I only have a very basic familiarity with). This was a really good book, and I should have read it last year.
Spanning roughly 200 hundred years this is a book about a world similar to our own but subtly different. It starts in the 1890s in an America which has some areas where it is legal to marry anyone you wish. It discusses 1990s in the same place only with a backdrop of the looming spectre of HIV. The final part is in the 2090s after waves of pandemics have changed the face of the First World into a dystopian vision of strict controls and segregation.
The book discusses health and frailty, chronic illness, being gay, the idea of inheritance and Legacy, life and treatment of migrants of ethnic minority, and love, feud, vulnerability, and .. people being people.
When I got the audiobook I had no idea it was such a long read (over 900 pages or 28+hours in the Audiobook) but the story wasn't really slow.. it just had a LOT in it. It seemed a poetic decision to have a recurring set of names and places. Partly this was to reinforce the continuity of lineage, inheritance and flow of time. Looking at things from different cultural perspectives over time highlights the changes caused by the passage of time, but also the similarities.
This book is artful and tells the stories within it through letters, memories, and stories told to others. It leans hard into the Hawaiian / Pacific Islands' oral tradition, and also highlights the place of those shared stories we tell each other, and how they cement families and communities. It also shows how that knowledge can be so fragile and be lost to time when ideas are not shared or if they cannot be passed on well.
This story starts as a piece of historical speculative fiction, but the latter parts of the book are set in a police state. Published in 2022, this book clearly channels a lot of the common ground we have experienced in the face of global pandemic. Freedom of information, and the radicalisation of rebels and conspiracy theorists against government control, are sympathetically highlighted by the use of main characters on both sides of the fence, one working for the government to limit the casualties of disease, and one fighting against government misinformation and lack of social freedoms.
For all the big ideas, the thing that really sells this whole book to me is the solid characters. The feelings expressed and the stuff they are going through really resonate with me. A number of the characters over the span of the book deal with anxiety, trauma and chronic physical illness. The relationships formed are often oddly unbalanced, either due to finances, physical/emotional frailty, or even just charisma, and the problems those couples have feel very real to me.
I could go on, but it would be too much. The characters were believable and human, and representation of disability and mental illness was relatable. The discussion of migrants and ethnic minority was an element I valued, and I loved that with the use of Hawaiian language I could still pick up one word in three due to its similarity with te reo Māori (which I only have a very basic familiarity with). This was a really good book, and I should have read it last year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Rape, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol
sissiisreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation
rachaelwho's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Could've used a firmer editor. Lots of unnecessary repetition, and a dickensian tendency to over-describe everything. Would've been more impactful, I think, at about a third shorter.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation
lisatz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Nachdem ich ein wenig Schwierigkeiten hatte reinzukommen, hat mich das Buch nach der Hälfte des ersten Buchs gepackt. Hanya Yanagihara spielt mit Motiven, Namen und Orten, die sich alle 100 Jahre wiederholen. An vielen Stellen war ich sehr verwirrt wer, wer ist und wessen Kinder oder Enkelkinder wieder aufgetaucht sind. Ich bleibe verwirrt zurück. Besonders das letzte Buch im Buch, Zone 8, hat mich sehr gefesselt. Yanagihara schreibt eindrücklich über ein Land, das von Peking regiert wird. Ständig Pandemien und immer ein moralisches Dilemma - vor allem für die Leser*innen wie der neueste Virus eingedämmt werden kann.
Eine Frage zum Schluss. Wieso schreibt Yanagihara so gerne traumatische und verstörende Geschichten mit Männern in schwulen Beziehungen? Warum nicht lesbische Frauen?
Eine Frage zum Schluss. Wieso schreibt Yanagihara so gerne traumatische und verstörende Geschichten mit Männern in schwulen Beziehungen? Warum nicht lesbische Frauen?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
jourdanicus's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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? It's complicated
What a long read.
I originally picked this up because I was intrigued by a story in which same-sex marriage was legalized in the US in the 1800s. This book was so much more than that (and I'd hope so at 700+ pages/30+ hours), for better or worse. I don't think that summary does it justice. Really, I see this as 3 separate books. I found myself wishing for more clear connections between the 3 stories. I know the characters were all related in some way, but I think that could have been made more explicit to bring more cohesion to the stories.
Other than that I struggle to come up with any complaints, which is surprising given that I do not tend to enjoy or even reach for books longer than 400 pages. I pretty much love any kind of character study, and this was much more character- than plot-centric. Book I, being the most focused on the topic of legal/normalized same-sex marriage, doesn't stand out to me the most, though it was enjoyable. Book II, about Lipo-Wao-Nahele, was such a gorgeous story and could totally have stood on its own; I'm a sucker for compelling parent/child relationships. Book III was a bit too depressing for me to have read during a current pandemic, but Charles was an interesting (if somewhat unlikeable) character, and I was most endeared to Charlie.
I could have done with more female characters for my taste - at least with more representation than justmothers who abandon their partner and child . But I can accept that not every book is going to check every single box for me. This one did enough to keep me engaged through to the end, and that's more than I can say for some that are nowhere near as lengthy.
Now going to look up a family tree of the characters so I can finally figure all that out, lol.
Edit: Can't believe I forgot to mention that the cast for the audiobook narration was fantastic. That's a big part of what kept me engaged. I definitely recommend this book on audio over other formats.
Another edit: Oh, so apparently the characters were NOT all related, and just had a lot of the same names? I don't know. That's just confusing. Sweeping family saga this one definitely is not.
I originally picked this up because I was intrigued by a story in which same-sex marriage was legalized in the US in the 1800s. This book was so much more than that (and I'd hope so at 700+ pages/30+ hours), for better or worse. I don't think that summary does it justice. Really, I see this as 3 separate books. I found myself wishing for more clear connections between the 3 stories. I know the characters were all related in some way, but I think that could have been made more explicit to bring more cohesion to the stories.
Other than that I struggle to come up with any complaints, which is surprising given that I do not tend to enjoy or even reach for books longer than 400 pages. I pretty much love any kind of character study, and this was much more character- than plot-centric. Book I, being the most focused on the topic of legal/normalized same-sex marriage, doesn't stand out to me the most, though it was enjoyable. Book II, about Lipo-Wao-Nahele, was such a gorgeous story and could totally have stood on its own; I'm a sucker for compelling parent/child relationships. Book III was a bit too depressing for me to have read during a current pandemic, but Charles was an interesting (if somewhat unlikeable) character, and I was most endeared to Charlie.
I could have done with more female characters for my taste - at least with more representation than just
Now going to look up a family tree of the characters so I can finally figure all that out, lol.
Edit: Can't believe I forgot to mention that the cast for the audiobook narration was fantastic. That's a big part of what kept me engaged. I definitely recommend this book on audio over other formats.
Another edit: Oh, so apparently the characters were NOT all related, and just had a lot of the same names? I don't know. That's just confusing. Sweeping family saga this one definitely is not.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Death of parent
e_austin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault