Review: A Little Life

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may have been the best book I've ever read. I couldn't put it down while I was reading it, then re-read so much of it in the following two weeks that it's as if I read it two or three times.

The first section of the book reads like a typical four-guy-friends-after-college-in-nyc story. But then it takes a turn, and the remainder of the book focuses on one of the guys, named Jude. Jude survived an extremely traumatic childhood (which is shockingly detailed in flashbacks throughout the book). The majority of the book is about Jude's adulthood and how his childhood reverberates throughout his adult life in a variety of tragic, violent, and sad ways.

I found Jude to be an extremely likable, as do his friends and family, but he does not see that himself. To that end, while many heralded this book as the first great gay novel in a generation," I did not read it that way. Yes, there are gay relationships in the book - central ones - but I read the book more as an exploration of trauma, shame, and what it takes to overcome those things.

This book has been thoroughly reviewed just about everywhere, and I was relieved to find that other people had the same reaction to it I did. Jon Michaud in the New Yorker said, "Yanagihara’s novel can also drive you mad, consume you, and take over your life." He was right.

And reviewer Joe Dolce said, "It's not short and it hurts, but it takes you deep into the lives of characters you'll never forget. Read it with someone else. You'll need to talk about it. A lot." I ignored that advice - and I regret it.

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