u/ANONYMOUS29247

I've been meaning to read A Little Life for about a year now, and I finally picked up a copy. Before starting, I watched a few YouTube Shorts about it. Most were just people crying or saying it completely destroyed them, and a few were reviews. Then I came across one where the guy gave these tips:

1. Look up all the trigger warnings before you start.

2. Don't try to finish it as quickly as possible—take your time.

3. Don't read it at night, or during winter or the monsoon because it makes the experience even heavier.

4. Save the last 50–60 pages to read in one sitting.

So now I'm wondering: is this book really that emotionally devastating?

Would it be better to read a few less intense books first—like The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The book thief, or The Song of Achilles—before diving into A Little Life? Or is it okay to go straight into it?

Also, I'm currently trying to get out of a reading slump. Is A Little Life a bad choice for that, or could it actually help if the story hooks me?

And finally, are the reactions online exaggerated, or does this book genuinely have moments where you want to throw it across the room, take a break, or just completely shut down emotionally?

I'd love to hear your experiences—without spoilers, please.

hi so my lil bro is 12 and he's addicted to battle royale games and he's turning into a hyper brat . if we try to take his phone away hell go crazy start throwing tantrums ,try to play victim card saying stuff like ( i shouldn't have been born, i shouldn't exist , no one loves me , everyone hates me , i should go and die, no one cares abt me and blah blah blah ) and if we hide the phone somewhere he'll some how find it and go hide somewhere in the corner or toilet and start playing games, if he doesn't have phone for a while hell start watching gameplays and shorts on tv and he have turned into this rude lying person who think he's better than everyone he treat most of the workers and ppl as if they aren't human or something he have started to talk back to our parents he plays free fire and his guild is in top 3 in the region so he's always like constantly playing he used to get 99 percent marks in school till last grade and this time he passed by a mark or 2 in his mid term exams he's obese but he doesn't care hell eat min 1500 calories in the form of packet snacks daily he doesn't exercise his mind constantly revolve around free fire he doesn't care abt anything other than that he haven't studied a single word in the past month his summer vocations are going on , there was a month long summer camp in his school he straight out refused to go . everyday he would say ill study from tmrw at home, i wont go to summer camp . he doesn't talk to anyone nicely unless he wants to get something done , if he's going to market to buy something for himself and u ask him to get something for u as well most of the time he would refuse or if we ask him to go and get something in general he would start throwing tantrums or straight out refuse to go my parents have tried gentle , authoritative , authoritarian parenting switched up btw em multiple times but nothing works do yall got any tips

So I’m 17 and my boyfriend is 19. We’re in an online long-distance relationship and haven’t met IRL since we’re from different countries.

About 2 weeks ago, he had a big argument with his parents. I don’t know all the details, but from what he told me, he thinks he wasn’t in the wrong, so he refuses to apologize to them. I tried convincing him once, but he completely shut the idea down, so I didn’t want to pressure him and we never brought it up again.

Since then, I’ve been trying to support him however I can — sending sweet texts, checking up on him, trying to be there for him emotionally, etc. The problem is that his replies are usually pretty dry now. Sometimes it feels like my messages make him feel a little better, but other times I feel like I’m just bothering him or not helping at all.

He’s also the type of person who doesn’t share his problems. He believes only good moments should be shared, not bad ones, so he rarely opens up about what’s going on in his life. Because of that, I can’t even fully understand the situation or comfort him properly.

I also can’t send him gifts or get anything delivered because I don’t have a bank account/payment method.

So yeah, I honestly don’t know what else I can do to help him or make things easier for him. Any advice?