I am currently reading “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara. I am not a fan of the writing style it overwhelmed me a lot, so I have to stop every now and then to take a break. A lot of people are recommending this to me, however, I find it hard to finish although I badly wanted to.
For the meantime, I am putting it down and is looking for a book that is a little bit lighter and easier to read .
Do you have books that overwhelmed you? Why? And did you manage to finish it?
by serialreader_ph
47 Comments
The same thing happened to me with A Little Life. I only got 20% of the way through before deciding to put it down for now. While I did adore and enjoy the style of writing, the sheer amount of trauma and how graphic it was , simply wasn’t for me. So I get it
I share the same sentiment about “A Little Life”! I think in addition to the writing, the book itself droned on and tried too hard to elicit ‘all the feels.’ It did the opposite for me, though I assume I may be in the minority, given how highly it’s rated on goodreads and raved about on YouTube and whatnot. Anyway, I chugged through and finished the book, but it was definitely a chore. I’ve since taken on the approach of dnf-ing a book if it feels like a chore to finish. There are so many books out there waiting to be read! I’ll never live long enough to finish my tbr (which continues to grow as new books are published), so why waste the time, energy, and effort 🤷🏻♀️
Anything Han Kang writes crushes me to bits. Her books are pretty short, but take me a long time to finish simply because I have to put them down and process every little thing. That woman’s understanding of the human condition is breathtaking.
China Mieville. Felt like someone is holding him at gunpoint to use as many obscure words he can
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I really enjoy it, but it’s a lot. It’s a philosophical barrage.
A Little Life is torture porn
For me it was [the cock down the Block] it wasn’t a plot heavy book or anything but she used so many rugby (American football) references and analogies that i got so confused by what was going on. At some point, it was also just like okay we get it you’re a pro player.”
James Joyce.
I’ve finished overwhelming books using your plan 🙂 Have one fun/happy/more interesting/easier/predictable – whatever the opposite of the book you’re struggling with, and go back and forth between them. You’ve got to be strict with yourself, though, and not spend all your time on the fun book. Maybe one longer reading session on the fun book, then next reading session is shorter and with A Little Life. And then reward yourself once it’s finished with a book you KNOW you’ll enjoy.
I’ve been recommended A Little Life by many people and have seen just as many ‘it’s depressing’ – absolutely daunted!
Moby Dick. Half-a-page run-on sentences that go in 5 different directions before coming back to the original point.
I waited ages for Jerusalem by Alan Moore from the library because there was only one copy on their system and the holds list was really long. When it finally arrived my youngest had not long been born and I got a couple of hundred pages in but my poor addled brain was too broken to be able to fully commit to it. One day, Jerusalem! One day!
A little life is the most traumatizing book I ever read.
I had a list of award winning books of the century I was reading during the lockdown and they all seemed to be really depressing. Seemed to me only a few happy ending books can win a prestigious award.
I cried for a week after that book.
I still look up the author once in a while just to look at her and marvel at her mind. All that horror for one sweet little boy? Oh Hanya
Tender is the Flesh.
1984, which I read when I was still a teenager. The sheer…depravity of that book’s world, the complete destruction of the sense of self, it honestly left me speechless and emotionally numb.
You should read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. Cozy core at its finest, a cute story about a friendship between a robot and a tea monk.
Swastika Nights. Dystopian future where Hitler achieved his thousand year reich. Written before 1984 and considered an influence to that, basically predicted incels. I think people should read it but it was so leaden and bleak, it took me a long time to finish it.
I read this about ten years ago and I still vividly remember a part where women are kept like cattle in a pen. Grim grim
The one that did it for me was The Room by Hubert Selby Jr. It’s so dark yet so engaging (if that’s your style). Several scenes are just seared into my memory.
Finnegans Wake” by James Joyce—glad that I finished it though, but I am still not sure if I got all the references.
Sunshine (Norma Klein)
It’s a memoir of a mom with a young child fighting cancer and losing. Stories for her kid to read later on.
I don’t remember if the book was particularly good, but I remember it rly messed with my head thinking about the little kid losing her mom.
Its just not a good book. Its all just trauma after trauma and its just very very sad and tragic.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to ANYONE that means something to me like if i ever recommend this book its to someone i dont like and i want them to suffer,,,
The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay. I expected a creepy/suspense/little bit of horror, but it was so viciously violent and effed up. I did finish it, I don’t know why though.
Just burn it and get your friends some therapy sessions for Xmas.
It’s more like underwhelmed, but I told myself I’m free to take breaks during The Veiled Throne because Ken Lui really takes his time with anything happening.
I couldn’t read ‘No country for old men’. The ‘style’ was atrocious, and obnoxious to try and get through a page. Now, I’m the first to admit that I’m not an intellectual reader by any means. I read a heck of a lot of Stephen King.
‘atomic habits’ had so many implications, and i haven’t yet finished ‘crime and punishment’
Lord of the Flies. The concept is so interesting, too much potential, but the execution was lame imo. The characters felt 1 dimensional, too many island descriptions and the plot progression was just… something else…
Book of the New Sun – Gene Wolfe
First book I felt overwhelmed and took a break after it. Someone mentioned that I should jump back in when I caught myself thinking about Severian. Which I did, and I still remain utterly captivated by this book and it’s writing even if I cant accurately tell you what is going on or what x,y,z means
“House of Leaves”- It felt like I was trying to read 3 stories simultaneously. I couldn’t keep the plots straight so I gave up. I might pick it up again at some point.
House of Leaves
Only Revolutions
Just too much effort to read these in my opinion
The Bible. It’s overwhelming
Dune. It does not ease you in gently. Just drops you into a galactic scale story as if it was our own solar system. The names of planets and people are totally alien (as they should be) but without slowly introducing you to characters, houses, planets it’s so easy to lose track of the narrative as you struggle to essentially learn a new language at the same time.
Rape of Nanking will give you second hand trauma
Sometimes I like to be overwhelmed by a book, in a sense? The best examples that come to mind for me are *My Dark Vanessa* and *Yellowface.*
*My Dark Vanessa* is all about a young woman coming to terms with the fact that she was groomed at 14, as the man who groomed her has more allegations come out about him. It was a fascinating read, and is everything *Lolita* is often said to be. However, it was overwhelming and horrific, and does not try to gloss over the most horrific parts. I found it to be a great book and one that felt incredibly poignant and complex, as the main character was in such denial of what she experienced. I had to put the book down during at least one of the scenes because it was so upsetting.
*Yellowface,* on the other hand, was pretty different. It’s about an author who dies and another author steals her manuscript, finishes it, and publishes it. It wasn’t that it was so overwhelmingly dark, but more about how it almost felt like I couldn’t put it down. You know when you read a book and it’s so intense that you feel physically anxious due to what the characters are experiencing? That was this book. I knew the main character was going to go down, I knew she was in the wrong, but it was downright impossible to stop reading it because I was so riveted.
Both of them were definitely overwhelming, but I would also count them as some of my favorite books.
Jordan Peterson’s infamous 12 Rules for Life. I really enjoy the book but man is it hard to get through due to the way he writes. I decided to buy the second book in this series, Beyond Order 12 More Rules for Life, in audio book form and it was a lifesaver.
2666 by Roberto Bolano, fantastic book but it has a lot going on and I couldn’t read it for more than a few pages at a time.
I hated “A Little Life”!!!!! I read it years ago when it first came out. The story was literally preposterous in the endless level of abuse the character was receiving. He made Job from the Bible look like a chronic complainer😂
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. So, so many arcane references!!
I was listening to the audiobook of one called Legacy of Ashes. It’s basically about how the CIA is incompetent and was from its inception. They’ve basically missed every big thing. I stopped while JFK was still president. It was too painful.
The Kite Runner. Had to do it for an English course….hated every second of that book.
I wouldn’t wish ALL on my worst enemy. Genuinely the most pointless book I’ve ever read. I can’t even call it “torture porn” bc that implies it made me feel anything. Jude’s life was comically terrible. You know a book is doing something wrong when the main character’s partner turns out to be abusive and you groan and roll your eyes. That’s not even counting the urban legends it spreads about sex trafficking.
Ironically, though ALL is one of the worst books I’ve ever read, I read “the people in the trees” by the same author a month or so after and I loved it! You can see some of the interesting themes she tries to tackle in ALL to much better effect, and her editor clearly had a much heavier hand. I would recommend giving it a go if you’re interested in seeing how the same author can write wildly different books.
I honestly loved “A Little Life” it’s a difficult read but is one of my favourite books.
It was so deep and powerful, a truly remarkable read.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I stopped reading with about 40 pages to go. The absolute despair and helplessness was overwhelming.
A little life was a HORRIBLE book sorry 💩
Coming here to say that you should probably DNF a little life.
I just finished it and I wish I could take my time back. Trauma porn that brinks on cartoonishly wicked. By the end of it you are numb and annoyed. Quit while you’re ahead. I wish I could take my 33 hours back.
I read it through to the bitter end, and the end was bitter. for me it is maybe the worst book i ever read. Misery porn.
Don’t worry that book is shit finishing it is a waste of life, just like Jude apparently.
I am overwhelmed by Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler. I am about 2/3 of the way through, but I keep picking it up and putting back down. I plan on finishing it but it stresses me out so much
I felt the same when I read the catcher in the rye, that books messed me up for a few weeks,