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A review by nicoleisalwaysreading
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
A colossus that I think only Hanya Yanagihara could give us. A Little Life's strongest quality is the way it champions friendship and its complexities, but in To Paradise, she presents friendship as both necessary and a salvation while fickle and inconsistent. Her characters either can't decide if they believe in people, or their actions show that how we connect with and cherish people are all we have in common. The threads through the stories are that of love and its contours. We have romance, delusion, and disease.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Sexual content