Review: A Little Life

I was kind of dreading writing this review because this book is so hard to describe, critique, and even put into words. 

This book was filled from end to end with brilliant depth, devastating details, and characters you loved, hated, and wanted to take away and keep safe in another world.

I feel that if I get too in-depth about this one, I will unintentionally spoil something, so this review is going to be brief.

Four college friends move from Massachusetts to New York with dreams of success. Meet Willem, the charming actor-to-be; JB, the witty painter; Malcolm, the architect; and Jude, the mysterious and brilliant center of their world.

Over the years, their relationships change, faced with addiction, success, jealousy, and pride. Ultimately, their greatest challenge becomes understanding and taking care of Jude, who is beyond intelligent and leading a successful career yet carries with him physical and internal scars from an unspeakable childhood and is haunted by his fear that he cannot and will not ever be able to recover from.

Hanya Yanagihara weaves a tragically beautiful story that feels real and surreal at the same time. The novel's beginning was a bit hard to follow, as it jumps between POVs, and I found it hard to keep track of who was who at first. Beyond the intensity of the trauma explored in this book, this was the only negative I could really find, though.

It is an extremely difficult novel to read, but the characters and who they are and their feelings and journies make it near impossible to put down, even when the content was so heavy I could hardly see through my tears. I got completely lost in this world, and when I close my eyes now, months after reading it, I can still see the settings and the characters as vividly as I could whilst reading.

This will be one I will remember forever.

I would recommend this book to any reader. However, I say this with this piece of advice: read knowing that this story is filled with extremely difficult and confronting content. I completely understand anyone not wanting to read this book and people who couldn’t finish it. But ultimately, I am glad I did. This book is heartbreakingly special.

Rating: Infinity stars!