Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Tan poca vida by Hanya Yanagihara

1929 reviews

mtmarriott's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read this after seeing the National Theatre Live showing of the play adaptation with James Norton. The play I found undeniably powerful but ultimately too much for one sitting and I didn’t know if the harrowing events quite justified the means. While I think it would be hard to adapt this to the screen I think a miniseries would be the perfect Avenue: both because of the length of the story and because it allows for the horror of what happens to Jude to be fished out over several instalments instead of in one traumatising go. The Dr. Traylor subplot and Willem’s death I find tip the tragedy of the story into misery porn (Jude has to be the most unfortunate character in all of literature?) but the rest of the novel I find perfectly believable in its abusive horror. Yanagihara is also a really wonderful writer and she captures the intangible logic behind self-loathing so well as well as the heartbreak one can feel when a friend or family member struggles to love themselves. I’d really love to read other viewpoints since it’s become such a divisive novel but I for one have found it deeply sorrowful and rewarding in equal measure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

elishacarles's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gore, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

morgane3471's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

2.5/5 after seeing everyone react to this book, I had to pick up it. Even tho it is huge, I decided to read it in 2023. 
Sadly, I wish I didn’t. And not because of what others said. Yes I agree this book is sad and you should definitely check TW before reading it. But it didn’t work on me. I was expecting more layers ? Something else ? 
I enjoyed the writing style, the friendship and the way Jude’s story is slowed told to us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, and Self harm

lenaschwr_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

i’m going to go touch grass now

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual violence, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Death, Child abuse, Body shaming, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder

oreer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, and Ableism

madalynedwards's review against another edition

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

This post contains spoilers. 
This book contains many, many, many trigger warnings. 
—
I’ll probably go back and add on to this review later but it’s 2 a.m. and I just finished this book and I am not okay. 

Did I read this book because I knew it was supposedly heart wrenching and I wanted it to rip my heart out and smash it into thousands of tiny pieces? Yes. Was I prepared? No. 

Okay, so I’m going to be honest, this was *almost* a DNF for me. I listened to it on audiobook at 3x speed and found myself losing interest. But I kept on trucking until 30% where I couldn’t decide if I wanted to DNF it or not. I rarely DNF a book, not that I think there’s anything wrong with DNFing, but I heard incredible reviews and wanted to keep going. I picked it back up a few days later and listened to the remaining 70% of this 800+ page novel without pressing pause. I was hooked - I couldn’t help but feel that if I put the book down, I would be abandoning the characters in their darkest times, and I so desperately wanted to see them overcome their demons and trauma (I did a little happy gasp when I got to the section titled “The Happy Days”, but rest assured friends, the happy days are not the final days.) The characters are beautifully flawed, well developed, and beautifully written. The strongest feeling I felt as I read was that of prolonged despair. Jude’s abusive past leads him to sabotaging himself, thinking he is not worthy of happiness or joy or love or, during some instances, life itself. And it’s heartbreaking. It’s absolutely gut wrenching. 

Jude, it seems, was the unluckiest individual growing up. Jude made a comment in the later half of the book how he has been lucky all his life, but that is not true. The main criticism I have of the book is that I found myself thinking “surely one person cannot go through all of this”… it seems like Jude was in the wrong place at the wrong time every time. When he would reveal details about himself in little pieces, I would find myself thinking “this is the terrible trauma Jude endured that has resulted in his thoughts and motives…” but no, each passing chapter would peel back another layer of trauma he endured. I found myself wondering how one person could endure so many traumatic events, and during times wondered why the author was adding to these layers of trauma even after Jude had been through so much. So yeah, the main emotion, along with anger (for those who wronged Jude - and trust me, there are a lot) I felt while reading was despair. Pure and utter despair. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Death, Medical trauma, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Grief, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Blood, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

catsandbeets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Mental illness, Homophobia, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Chronic illness

kazli's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.25

it was okay but it did put me in a reading slump around half way reading through it. it was well written and all that, I just think that you have to be in the perfect mindset when reading this, not to mention be aware of EVERY trigger warning. I liked the depiction of abuse, as a victim myself, but I did not like the portrayal that a healthy relationship requires a sexual aspect to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Ableism, Body horror, Car accident, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Violence

cllaaiirreeee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

shelbyeallen13's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Grief, and Emotional abuse