Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Tan poca vida by Hanya Yanagihara

2458 reviews

chandlerkircher'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“If I were a different kind of person, I might say that this whole incident is a metaphor for life in general: things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.”

“Things had not just corrected themselves; they had reversed themselves, to an almost absurd degree. He had gone from nothing to an embarrassing bounty. He would remember, then, Harold’s claim that life compensated for its losses, and he would realize the truth of that, although sometimes it would seem like life had not just compensated for itself, but had done so extravagantly, as if his very life was begging him to forgive it, as if it were piling riches upon him, smothering him in all things beautiful and wonderful and hoped-for so he wouldn’t resent it. So he would allow it to keep moving him forward.”

“Sometimes the dreams are so vivid, so real, that it takes minutes, an hour for him to return to his life, for him to convince himself that the life of his consciousness is in fact real life, his real life. Sometimes he wakes so far from himself that he can’t even remember who he is. “Where am I?” he asked, desperate, and then, “Who am I? Who am I?”

“Oh, he thinks, will I never forget? Is this who I am after all, after all these years?” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

libraryoflolabelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

paris_nicole's review against another edition

dark 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

I really loved this book. It is dark, deep and heavy. There is criticism over the amount of trauma portrayed and that the author is profiting off of tragedy, but I never had that sense. She sought out to write a book about how damaged people can be, sometimes to the point of no return.

The book is loooong (my version was over 800 pages), but it never felt like it was dragging. It is a very drawn out story, but the author's writing keeps you captivated. 

There are many, many trigger warnings. For that reason, I will be cautious when recommending this to others. 

I'm giving it 5 stars because I know I will never forget these characters and their stories, especially Jude. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

hbright's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Devastatingly sad. An emotional rollercoaster as you follow a group of friends throughout their life and jump between their early years. I both wanted it to learn more and for it to end and the characters have peace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse

astha_shah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Written beautifully. Hard to get through, but worth it. Laughed and gasped out loud. Felt so deeply for all of those characters. You see things coming, and they still break your heart.

Read the trigger warnings for this book before you decide to pick it up. Only you know what you've been through and if it's something you can handle. Don't take it lightly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Injury/Injury detail

malin11's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

srkennedy1218's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

b00ksb4ppl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

I read this bc TikTok told me to. I love a devastating story but this was just unnecessary. 

Everyone (me included) crying and having intense emotional responses to the story- like yeah I’d hope so. That does not make it a good book. Creating a character and having horrific things happen to him to illicit an emotional response is not impressive IMO. 

3 stars still bc I was invested in Willem and Harold, sometimes Andy. 

I would not recommend this book though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

syd91201's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

toriyaki's review against another edition

The depth of the characters was lost in the author’s want to make it a “deep” exploration of trauma. It lacks the necessary understanding of human experience and is truly “fiction”. Not a deep emotional tale or another subplot or narrative. Just plan cartoonish nonsense that disguises itself as a trauma novel. Would be better written if it was a scientific thesis on trauma instead of a failed attempt to be deep. Author uses “telling” instead of “showing” brings this disconnect and basically the author telling the reader to “feel” what’s being told. But it doesn’t work like that- emotional pull isn’t there since there is no character development in the abusers besides the author telling us that they are abusers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Car accident