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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
βFear and hatred, fear and hatred: often, it seemed that those were the only two qualities he possessed. Fear of everyone else; hatred of himself.β A Little Life is a heart-wrenching tour de force. Dark, all-consuming, devastating, moving, stunning, brutal, dazzling, beautiful, disturbing, A Little Life is all of these and so much more. This…
5 STARS, A Little Life, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, actors, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, chronic pain, cliques, Contemporary, dark, DEPRESSION, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, distressing reads, female authors, film industry, forgiveness, found family, friendships, gay, graphic content, GRIEF, GUILT, Hanya Yanagihara, identity, Italy, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, m/m, male friendships, masculinity, monasteries, morocco, NEW YORK, Pedophelia, psychological, published in 2015, queer, rape, read in 2021, self-harming, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, suicide, tragedy, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, violence -
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
βDesire is the cause of all suffering. All Zhu had ever desired was to live. Now she felt the pure strength of that desire inside her, as inseparable as her breath or qi, and knew she would suffer from it. She couldnβt even begin to imagine the awful magnitude of the suffering that would be…
14th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, ALIENATION, anti-hero, Asian Australian author, battles, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, China, court intrigue, f/f, FANTASY, friendships, gender identity, ghosts/spirits, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, MAGIC, monasteries, mongolia, myths, netgalley, political intrigue, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, RETELLINGS, revenge, sapphic, She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan, terrific prose, war