Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Tan poca vida by Hanya Yanagihara

608 reviews

feral_andro's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad 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

3.25

tw: suicide

minor spoilers

I did not particularly like this book and don't understand why so many people do. The writing was not immersive for me -- instead of showing the reader who the characters are, all we get are endlessly long descriptions of the author telling us. I typically really enjoy dense writing, but it was not beautiful or original prose.
As for content, I still don't know how I feel about it. As someone who has experienced abuse, I just don't see Jude's internalization of it as realistic. Yes, there are elements of realism,  but I think the degree to which he has internalized what he experienced is dramatized in the extreme and somehow takes away from the experiences of real abuse survivors .... though I have not yet been able to find the words to describe why I feel this.
(Possibly because in the end we're just supposed to accept that some people are too broken to be "saved" and are just destined to die. And as someone who has been suicidal before, I don't like this suggestion at all.)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Self harm, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dysphoria, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

oddgreyhound's review against another edition

challenging 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

read the trigger warnings.. it’s a good book, but it can be really hard to read, so don’t force yourself through it. 
It has hills and valleys, and more of one than another, but it made me love the characters. It’s long, but i think it’s not too long. fitting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Dementia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

ecw47's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Drug use, Eating disorder, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Body shaming

sophiapt's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Uff, durch dieses Buch zu kommen war nicht einfach. Zeitweise war ich wütend, gelangweilt oder traurig. Ich mochte die sehr gut ausgearbeiteten Charaktere und die Auseinandersetzung mit Freundschaft, Liebe und Familie. Aber die ständige extrem detaillierte Beschreibung von Selbstverletzung und Traumata waren finde ich zu viel. Ich hatte das Gefühl, dass die Autorin nach schlimmen, sexuellen Kindheitstraumata gegoogelt hat und allen davon Jude erleben hat lassen. Ich weiß nicht genau, was sie damit bezwecken wollte. Ich finde Aufklärung über und Thematisierung von psychischen Störungen wichtig und freue mich darüber in Büchern. Das hat aber hier finde ich nicht stattgefunden, sondern es war eher eine Zurschaustellung von schrecklichen Traumata, schweren Selbstverletzungen und düsteren Gedanken. Es fehlte die Einordnung, an einer Stelle wurde sogar gesagt, dass Jude überhaupt nicht psychisch krank sei ... what? Psychotherapie wurde auch als "bloß reden" und ncht wirklich hilfreich abgetan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Violence, Ableism, Chronic illness, Grief, Child death, Medical content, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

punishercoded's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

i will spend forever thinking about how cruel the world was to jude st francis 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

i'd love to write a complex and profound, thoughtful review for this book, and i've tried, i swear. but it's just not possible, because how does one even begin to review a little life?

i can only describe how i feel.

one can find two different types of people in the review section of this book:
- type A: "this book is completely mental and tragedy porn and you shouldn't ever read it", and
- type B: "this book is completely mental and tragedy porn and you should absolutely read it",
(and of course the impartial "i love it but would never ever recommend it to anyone").
so i was curious which type i'd end up being.

answer: type B. because i loved it.

of course it was tragic, and traumatic, and bloody, and cold and crazy. but it was also lovely, tender and warm.

maybe i'm just a whole other level of delulu and mental, but i found a little life strangely comforting. when i feel down, i feel this urge to pick it up, to drown in this world yanagihara has created. i want to read about the lives of all these people i've had the pleasure of meeting—jude and willem and harold and julia and malcolm and jb, and and and. 

one of the reviewers on the back of the cover said something along the lines of "i wish this book was longer" and at first i thought this person insane. but now, ... my god, this person's right. i find myself wishing i could just pick it up and continue reading. this feeling is especially strong when i'm feeling down—comfort book and all that.

720 pages, and i want to re-read it. actually, i just want to never stop reading it. 

originally, i didn't want to rate this book at all, because that would be like rating a sad, trauma-dumping (auto)biography; it feels wrong somehow. 

but i can't really stop thinking about it, and that's always THE sign that tells me that i really, really enjoyed a book. so i want to give it a good rating. 

so yeah. type B. 
do check out the trigger warnings (there's a lot of them), but if you're okay with all of them, i want you to read it. forget that "i would never recommend it to anyone because it's so sad"-stuff. i'm telling you to read it. because it's good.

it's a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide, Grief, Death, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Blood, Ableism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Rape, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Torture

Moderate: Infidelity, Outing, Vomit, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Addiction, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Car accident

maisieme123'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

4.0

beautiful writing and character building, however did seem to drag but some could argue the detail was necessary. extremely tragic but is that much trauma realistic for one person?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Child abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Addiction, Blood, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Death of parent

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

bibliosaurus's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.5

Beautiful prose. However, the sheer number of abuses Jude has endured are so extreme, that the combination becomes unbelievable. There are beautiful examples of love in this book, both platonic and romantic. And yes, life is cruel and love has its limitations… But the last portion of the book left me thinking, Was this all really necessary?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, Child abuse, Rape, Child death, 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