Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Tan poca vida by Hanya Yanagihara

612 reviews

greenan26's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring 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


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lenaschwr_'s review against another edition

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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

iā€™m going to go touch grass now

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madalynedwards's review against another edition

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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.Ā 
This book contains many, many, many trigger warnings.Ā 
ā€”
Iā€™ll probably go back and add on to this review later but itā€™s 2 a.m. and I just finished this book and I am not okay.Ā 

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.Ā 

Okay, so Iā€™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 couldnā€™t decide if I wanted to DNF it or not. I rarely DNF a book, not that I think thereā€™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 couldnā€™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 ā€œThe Happy Daysā€, 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. Judeā€™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 itā€™s heartbreaking. Itā€™s absolutely gut wrenching.Ā 

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 ā€œsurely one person cannot go through all of thisā€ā€¦ 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 ā€œthis is the terrible trauma Jude endured that has resulted in his thoughts and motivesā€¦ā€ 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.Ā 



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kazli's review against another edition

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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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addi_gurl's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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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edusa777's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.0


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katenico's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0


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aulasw's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This is a book that has fundamentally changed how I view love, life, friendship, and death. The journeys and tribulations these characters go on through life is unlike anything I've ever read before, all of which is compounded by the method of layering memories in memories that Yanagihara uses to tell this story.

If you want to experience a book that will hurt you as much as heal you; a book that will haunt you as much as fill your days with pleasant memories; a book that will make you cry as much as make you laugh, then this book is for you. It is not for the faint of heart: it is tough, and at times excruciatingly difficult, to keep reading, but it is worth it. Even in all the darkness this book has to show, with each bloody gash of the pages a cry for help, there are so many moments of light hidden there in these little lives, so bright next to all the dark around them.

This book will shock you and it will hurt you and it will heal you, the story itself so emblematic of the characters within and their lives.

If you do anything, please read this book.

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mikom10's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.25


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orangee's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.5


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