sagabrodersen's reviews
58 reviews

well, it was a sweet little (and too much of a cliche) kinda story. Too predictable and boring. If I would have read this when I was like 12 I would have loved it, but yeah. Maybe that says a lot. 
Also some casual racism which threw me offfff. 

Man this book was heavy (both heavy in information and topic-wise) and took me a loong time to finish. I wanted to make sure I soaked it all in and had to stop every other second to take notes. It was not a simple and enjoyable read I’ll be honest about that. But - it was truly amazing and an obligatory read for me. Rodney explains and unravels the colonization of Africa in a way I’ve never experienced before and I’ve been able to understand it on a much deeper level now. 

This is a must read for everyone! 

I devoured this book in one sitting. 

The ending had me sobbing. So incredibly emotional and beautiful how she finally stood up for herself by using the words “abuse and exploitation”. 

Raw, emotional, gut wrenching and hopeful. 

Helt otrolig! Ett måste i allas bokhylla. Sara målar med ord om hennes liv och uppväxt i Iran, men ger även en kunskaps och historielektion om revolutionen 1979 och om protesterna efter Mahsa Aminis död 2022-2023. En obligatorisk läsning! 

This was a weird read. At first I was very intrigued and I really liked the humorous tone the writer gave to the story and the conversational parts. I also thought the idea was funny and interesting when I read about the book. 

But theeeeen. First of all, you don’t even get an explanation WHY the kids catch on fire in the first place? I felt like it would give the story a whole other dimension to it if that was explained (for instance that they developed it like a coping mechanism when their mom died, but no…). And also I found it so uncomfortable to have Madison call Lillian and give the “task” to her? After all these years? And why? Because she felt sorry for what happened in high school? I just found it so unnerving and unnecessary. 

Also, the story had not a lot of depth. Half the book was about them playing around in the pool and eating whatever they wanted from Madison’s big fat wallet. And that was another thing as well - it was just a little bit too predictable, with Lillian coming there and sudden she is given everything she wants from her rich former best friend. And also, you didn’t even get an explanation for why Jasper didn’t want to take care of his kids? 

I liked the kids though, and felt bad for them. But the ending was too predictable even though it was sweet. 

A beautiful novel with a great and unique story. I absolutely loved the range of emotions you go through as a reader (also very cleverly written since the character on the other hand feels none of those emotions). 

+ I loved the beginning with him saying “I won’t say if it’s a happy or sad ending” - it concludes the story in a way just by saying that. 

I just wish the story line with him and Gon would have developed more and gone into depth more. For instance, the story line with Dora could easily have been removed without the story losing anything important, and those pages could be filled with more depth about the characters we truly cared about (him and Gon!!). I also lacked character development a little from Gon - a little too much of the same swear words like every other sentence. 

And the end felt a little like the author wanted to wrap it up too quickly, and that really threw me off from giving the book a higher rate. I just don’t like when you as a reader can really feel how the author wants to wrap up the story. Everything with Steel Wire and Steamed Bun - Yeah it just felt off and forced. 

But, otherwise than that, I really liked it. I could easily read 600 pages of a story like this (- Dora lol) because I really like the idea and also the language was incredibly beautiful!! 

Honestly I’ve never been happier (or correction: relieved) to finish a book. It was as stated, a brutal read. I wanted to throw it aside so many times, leave it in a box somewhere deep down in a storage unit. Yet…. I absolutely loved it. 

And for many reasons. 

I mean, I get why the book has gotten the criticism it has gotten. One could easily say the book is filled with torture-pornographic details and excessive violence. But having read it and also having listened to Yanagihara in interviews I do not agree with the critics anymore. The book is not about excessive violence and “torturing gay characters” - it’s about friendship, love, trauma, memory and how life doesn’t always have a happy ending. I think why I loved it so much is because having PTSD myself - I’ve never read something that portrays the extreme sorrow, anger and pain that comes with it. And a lot of the times people’s lives (people living with immense traumas) ends up with suicide. 

For me the book wasn’t “unbelievable” because I know these kinds of life destinies are real. 

Also what stayed with me the most after finishing the book wasnt the graphic scenes of abuse. Not at all actually. What really stayed with me was (and is) the friendship and love between Willem and Jude, the storyline with Harold, with Andy. All those small moments - small yet so incredibly beautiful almost painfully so. And Yanagihara is extraordinarily talented at portraying those beautiful moments and feelings.