Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Vers le paradis by Hanya Yanagihara

19 reviews

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thorny, structurally difficult in its first half. But the second half packs such a punch that is only as satisfying as it is because of the groundwork laid in the first half. A dynamic cautionary tale about the ways that our generational trauma can silently destroy us and others.
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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Could've used a firmer editor. Lots of unnecessary repetition, and a dickensian tendency to over-describe everything. Would've been more impactful, I think, at about a third shorter.
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lisatz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Nachdem ich ein wenig Schwierigkeiten hatte reinzukommen, hat mich das Buch nach der Hälfte des ersten Buchs gepackt. Hanya Yanagihara spielt mit Motiven, Namen und Orten, die sich alle 100 Jahre wiederholen. An vielen Stellen war ich sehr verwirrt wer, wer ist und wessen Kinder oder Enkelkinder wieder aufgetaucht sind. Ich bleibe verwirrt zurück. Besonders das letzte Buch im Buch, Zone 8, hat mich sehr gefesselt. Yanagihara schreibt eindrücklich über ein Land, das von Peking regiert wird. Ständig Pandemien und immer ein moralisches Dilemma - vor allem für die Leser*innen wie der neueste Virus eingedämmt werden kann. 
Eine Frage zum Schluss. Wieso schreibt Yanagihara so gerne traumatische und verstörende Geschichten mit Männern in schwulen Beziehungen? Warum nicht lesbische Frauen? 
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franklola's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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catesm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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keatynbergsten's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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serenspace's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

from the first book of this story, I drew upon a story of the sad side of arranging one’s life for the betterment of others and the desperation that comes with escaping expectations, as David seems wont to do. I enjoyed this part thoroughly. along with Yanagihara’s trademark wistfulness, the excitement of a fascinating yet tragic love triangle grabbed me from the get-go. over and over, I panicked at the prospect of everything falling apart under David’s feet, unable to stop reading before finding out what happens next. and while the cliffhanger left me a little disappointed, I resolved not to judge the story before all of it had ended, and that leads me on to Book Two. in the second part of this novel, an interesting choice manifests that promises to connect each story viscerally: the protagonist, whom I expected to be a completely different person, is also named David. not only that, but each important character is also named after a predecessor from Book One: Charles, David’s lover, Edward, David’s father’s friend, even Eden, David’s old, spirited roommate. I was taken aback at the obvious connection, but it worked well to the effect of bringing the stories together and suggesting an unfortunate repetition of history to a yet unknown end. on the sour note of David's father's mental decline and institutionalisation, David's own life can be summed up neatly in one of my favourite quotes from this part:


“no-one was ever free[...] to know someone and to love them was to assume the task of remembering them [...] your life was inextricable from another’s, that a person marked their existence in part by their association with you.” (231)

I connected with this strongly. lives get entangled no matter how hard you try to keep them apart, but that is not a curse, but a blessing. people create hellish nightmares of the lives of everyone around them, or they make lives worth their salt. the difference comes in realising that people are inescapable and that we really don’t have as much control over life as we think we should. and in Book Three, a new Charles tragically crafts the state in which nobody is free and everyone is a suspect, pushing his radical son and exhausted husband from his life in the process. this David's announcement that he will help Charlie escape their dystopia is thrilling and terrifying; is he honest? this is all carried on a silent prayer to close the book that I could not put down or stop thinking about.
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pollyflorence's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.5

It’s very difficult to put my thoughts into proper sentences, something coherent and something like a review, but I wanted to try and get across just how much I loved this book. 

I know that there will be a lot of comparisons made to Yanagihara’s previous work but it fully deserves, I hope it gets, the chance, the space to stand on it’s own because it’s so beautifully written and heartbreakingly crafted to a point that the last 100 pages or so left me breathless. I know that it’s a book that will stay with me for a very long time— which is something that I often say after reading a good book, which I said after reading A Little Life and The People in the Trees— but in this case the stories that Yanagihara told in the book, the characters she created, the worlds she built are so compelling and beautifully vivid that I’m sure I’ll keep revisiting them in my mind and be very glad to do so. 

That’s all that I can put into words at the moment— there are reviewers out there that explore the complex themes and connections that this book has— but all I can say is that I highly recommend giving this novel the chance it deserves. 

Thank you to Picador Books for the review copy.
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kkulhannie's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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