I was going to get the book, A Little Life, after a lot of people recommended it to me. My favorite genre of books are dark fiction and non-fiction books that go into the psychological plagues trauma brings upon a persons mind. I read them too to examine how an author dissects a traumatic event or events and brings the characters into those situations and how the characters progress. What always shocks me is seeing how other people react to these books. I suffered severe childhood trauma in various different ways. So reading these books is sometimes comforting, sometimes I read them with the intent to relate to a character, in the thoughts of the character towards an event that others might not have thought one would even experience. But watching some peoples reactions to books like A Little Life, and becoming nauseous or being in disbelief, I find it shocking. What are the experiences of people who read books who did not read it with intent to relate to the character. Why did you pick the book up? Im interested to see the other side of the coin. Does the emotional experiences of the characters resonate with you? Do you see any parallels within your our own life and the characters?
This is me exactly. Reading is all about escapism. In fact it was the only thing that saved me from all my childhood trauma. I had (arguably) the most trauma out of all my siblings, and all but one and me have substance abuse issues. Reading is how I got away from the unbearable. Because of that, I will avoid any book I know is about child rape or abuses of certain sorts, because they cut too close. Of course, I am sometimes surprised in a book by traumatic events, and it just varies on how badly it hits me. But I want fun reading, not trauma.