I’ve always been afraid to publicly say that I couldn’t finish it. lol. I’ve kept it though, and plan to try again. You know us readers, just don’t give up 🙂
Substantial_Chest395 on
I am currently reading it and I enjoy it. I have had depression so I can relate to it, I guess people who have not experienced that or any of the other hardships in the book don’t find it worthwhile reading
Entire_Dog_5874 on
OMG! I abhorred it and will never get back the time I wasted trying to slog through it.
Repulsia on
I hate it with a passion. When our copy was returned damaged, I was very happy to weed it.
Borje021 on
I can understand what some didn’t like about it, but I got absorbed into it and that’s always something I appreciate in a book.
disappearfrom on
It was just trauma porn. Awful.
Neither-Team-4703 on
People who can only empathize with gay characters when they’re being tortured.
haf2go on
Started it. Never finished it
wolfboy099 on
I loved it! I think it was a beautiful portrait of friendship and love over time. Yes the hardships are HARDDDDDD. But it’s a melodrama. If you want a melodrama read it. If you don’t, don’t.
OreadaholicO on
It was awful
yeeah_suree on
I enjoyed it a lot. I thought the prose and imagery were really beautiful and it was
pretty quick read for me. Personally I wasn’t bothered by the trauma and don’t really think it was overblown. I mean yeah it’s super tragic but that kind of stuff happens to people. The book is about serious child abuse and yet people are mad it has child abuse in it? As a reader it is probably is worth knowing what you’re getting into beforehand though.
The one real flaw I found was towards the end, when a close friendship turns into a romantic relationship. That part seemed unrealistic and out place in the story.
I don’t know if I’ll ever read it a second time, but most books I don’t reread. I’m glad I read it though and consider it a great novel.
vtattoos on
It’s my favorite book. It was really jarring because I read it before I had a tiktok (grabbed it without reading the back, I just liked the cover), then it got really popular on tiktok for being great and heartbreaking. Then I was off social media for a couple years. Then I got back on reddit like ~ a year ago. Then saw that everyone hates it and the author is awful and it’s torture porn. It’s still a really special book to me because the MC was so much like my dad and my best friend, one who died slowly and one who died by suicide after I had read ALL. They were miserable and their lives ended miserably, and it’s true that lives can be like that. They loved so much, and that counts for so much, and they also had terribly depressing, short lives. I’ve also never talked about the book or what it means to me because it’s such a hot button topic. I don’t support torture porn, I don’t know what Hanya Yanagihara is up to and I wasn’t particularly interested in reading her other works because the plots didn’t interest me. I’m doing better now, and I started rereading recently and doing my own critical analysis of the text and I do love Hanya Yanagihara’s prose and my favorite element of her storytelling is the way she describes people coming together through shared meals. There are just some gorgeous passages in that book. You’ll never know unless you read it for yourself. It didn’t register to me as a shock value type book. I’m always curious what people have to say about it but always nervous to comment about it myself.
Ok_Letterhead5852 on
Ya….I loved it. It was nitty gritty and can pass as real. I like realistic feeling books. Whether its depressing, happy, romantic or Gothic feeling.
13 Comments
I’ve always been afraid to publicly say that I couldn’t finish it. lol. I’ve kept it though, and plan to try again. You know us readers, just don’t give up 🙂
I am currently reading it and I enjoy it. I have had depression so I can relate to it, I guess people who have not experienced that or any of the other hardships in the book don’t find it worthwhile reading
OMG! I abhorred it and will never get back the time I wasted trying to slog through it.
I hate it with a passion. When our copy was returned damaged, I was very happy to weed it.
I can understand what some didn’t like about it, but I got absorbed into it and that’s always something I appreciate in a book.
It was just trauma porn. Awful.
People who can only empathize with gay characters when they’re being tortured.
Started it. Never finished it
I loved it! I think it was a beautiful portrait of friendship and love over time. Yes the hardships are HARDDDDDD. But it’s a melodrama. If you want a melodrama read it. If you don’t, don’t.
It was awful
I enjoyed it a lot. I thought the prose and imagery were really beautiful and it was
pretty quick read for me. Personally I wasn’t bothered by the trauma and don’t really think it was overblown. I mean yeah it’s super tragic but that kind of stuff happens to people. The book is about serious child abuse and yet people are mad it has child abuse in it? As a reader it is probably is worth knowing what you’re getting into beforehand though.
The one real flaw I found was towards the end, when a close friendship turns into a romantic relationship. That part seemed unrealistic and out place in the story.
I don’t know if I’ll ever read it a second time, but most books I don’t reread. I’m glad I read it though and consider it a great novel.
It’s my favorite book. It was really jarring because I read it before I had a tiktok (grabbed it without reading the back, I just liked the cover), then it got really popular on tiktok for being great and heartbreaking. Then I was off social media for a couple years. Then I got back on reddit like ~ a year ago. Then saw that everyone hates it and the author is awful and it’s torture porn. It’s still a really special book to me because the MC was so much like my dad and my best friend, one who died slowly and one who died by suicide after I had read ALL. They were miserable and their lives ended miserably, and it’s true that lives can be like that. They loved so much, and that counts for so much, and they also had terribly depressing, short lives. I’ve also never talked about the book or what it means to me because it’s such a hot button topic. I don’t support torture porn, I don’t know what Hanya Yanagihara is up to and I wasn’t particularly interested in reading her other works because the plots didn’t interest me. I’m doing better now, and I started rereading recently and doing my own critical analysis of the text and I do love Hanya Yanagihara’s prose and my favorite element of her storytelling is the way she describes people coming together through shared meals. There are just some gorgeous passages in that book. You’ll never know unless you read it for yourself. It didn’t register to me as a shock value type book. I’m always curious what people have to say about it but always nervous to comment about it myself.
Ya….I loved it. It was nitty gritty and can pass as real. I like realistic feeling books. Whether its depressing, happy, romantic or Gothic feeling.