Reviews

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

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moondeclipse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

natalie2906's review against another edition

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5.0

So how to start this review.. I loved this book so much, I think I have to say it’s the best I’ve ever read so far. The writing is so stunning and beautiful..I’m from Germany so I’m not a native english speaker, but I try to read all English book in English and with ‚A little Life‘ I truly fell in love with English literature and I crave for more!

Also of course this book is heartbreaking and has very devastating scenes in it and because of the good writing you feel so much for the character and also sometimes you just want to jump in and help them. Help Jude to accept that he’s a good person and deserves a good life and it’s not his fault what happened so him. Some bad reviews tell how exaggerated the story is and how it’s not possible that all of this can happen one person. I understand that but also I have to say that you can’t know that, just because you can’t think of it.. people can be extremely cruel. Also people who lived through such terrible things tend to attract bad things because they think they don’t deserve better, how Jude did. So that’s my opinion on that.

And when I think of this book after reading it I think more of the beautiful scenes, the scenes where you can see how important friendship, partnership and family is(family does not have to mean the family you’re born into). And also how important it is to cut off toxic people and to appreciate the good people in your life, every moment of it.

As I can say I craved to read this book first I heard of it and I’m so glad I did, because of how much I loved it. But if you’re feeling depressed or can’t read books with scenes of sexual or domestic abuse or even experienced some yourself (I hope not!) you shouldn’t read it.

But oh my I loved it and I wish it was longer. I’m already planning on rereading it. So if you’re happy in your life and you can take a book that will break your heart but also fill your heart with love, this is for you.

sarahwren's review against another edition

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5.0

Hanya Yanagihara, we need a chat about the emotional damage I’m suffering rn. This book will be one I think of for the rest of my life, it’s a masterpiece and has made such an impact on me. I now need to read a children’s picture book to calm down

julierl's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Synopsis:

Set in New York at an unknown time, this book explores the trauma of Jude St. Francis. It looks at what happened to him before he met his current friends and family, and it explores the fall-out of these traumatic events and how trauma happens to him in the current because of his past. There is a lot of love and healing given to Jude by his adopted family, but his past keeps causing suffering.

The Good:

The portrayal of young professionals navigating their fields, particularly the contrast between those with financial backing and those without, was an interesting initial set-up to examine privilege and ambition.
Jude's journey, characterized by fluctuations between improvement and regression, authentically captures the unpredictability and complexity of mental health struggles. The depiction of positive events triggering self-harm highlights the discomfort of confronting both joy and pain.
The reactions of Jude's friends and family to his pain, including their occasional outbursts of anger and inability to effectively address his self-harm, resonate as authentic responses to the helplessness of witnessing a loved one's suffering.

The Bad:

Problematic Depictions:

The novel's portrayal of self-harm and suicide is really concerning. I think it would be really triggering for someone who have a history with this. It reads as an instructional guide which is completely unnecessary to tell the story.
The mentions of fat and weight loss was triggering to me personally, who have more of a history of using food to hurt and sooth myself.
The first fat character I remember meeting was a man paying to sexually abuse a child/teenage Jude. He is described in a way to make him as disgusting as possible.
The disabled people deserve to die throughline made me very upset.
Jude is a kind of asexual, “pure” character, who is sex-repulsed because of his past. This depiction of asexuality was upsetting. Asexuality isn’t a result of sexual abuse, it’s a valid sexuality on its own.
There are a few gay characters: Caleb, a comedically evil boyfriend, and JB, the asshole friend. Then there are ALL the paedophile men, raping Jude as a boy. The “clients”, Brother Luke, apparently all truck drivers in the US, and the Psychiatrist man who imprisons him.
However! Jude, as mentioned, is never confirmed to be gay himself. He is this pure angel asexual. And Willem, who becomes his boyfriend, is only dating women until he dates Jude. He himself insists that he isn’t gay – he just loves Jude. This book does not like or respect gay men. It also dislikes gay women, in snide side-comments.
Several people call Jude “crazy” including a doctor. Almost worse, someone refutes that and says Jude can’t be mentally ill – as his issues are all something that happened to him. As if “true” mental illness is void of life circumstances.

Representation Issues:

The absence of well-rounded female characters and the reliance on gay male characters to fill traditional female roles made me pause. There is not a single woman in this novel who couldn’t just be taken out. It doesn’t even pass the Bechdel test, and there are almost 800 pages.
JB and Malcolm are the black characters. Malcom is half black, half white, so he “just” becomes the world’s best darned architect and constantly looks after Jude by fixing his expensive flat. Whereas JB who paints and displays Jude without his permission (causing suffering), and often is a rude asshole – he becomes a fat (the worst thing one can be) drug addict (the second worst) and they don’t like him anymore because he did a parody of Jude which hurt Jude’s feelings. Why are the black character sidelined so dramatically? They are only tools to hurt or help Jude, and barely get any “screen time” despite their very interesting beginnings.

The fanfiction:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

Graphic Depiction of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-Con, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, AU – Non-magical, whump, hurt/comfort, disabled character, ableism, domestic violence, grooming, pedophilia, sex trafficking, homophobia, physical abuse, racism, self-harm, suicide, sexual abuse, child abuse, hurt no comfort, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

Please respect the tags! Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

When the 17th comically sad thing happened to Jude, all the tension and feelings of horror for him, kinda turned into emotional numbness. Like a melodrama. So, my take is that this is a fairly cheesy whump hurt/comfort fic. It is written in a typical meandering fic style, with a strong Gary Sue at the centre (he is the most suffering [literally anything bad you can imagine has happened to this guy], and the most specialest boy who is essentially the Renaissance). Jude is a hot shot lawyer, an accomplished mathematician, his suffering is so gorgeous to look at his friend gets famous for painting him, he bakes, he sings, he plays the piano, but he refuses help from his friends and has a mysterious past, but he is so beautofil etc. etc.

Jude is extremely pretty and thin. And keeps losing weight throughout the book. Willem is a stunning Swedish successful celebrity actor. So innocent and kind-coded (despite not always being kind but I am not sure the narrative knows that).

If you haven't read much fanfiction this genre might not be so obvious to spot. The beautiful boys get together, but they're not actually "gay" kind of thing. Every time the plot lags, something awful happens. The fic writing genre is usually about evoking a strong emotion, and how characters then talk to each other.

I think there are much better versions of this type of story on the AO3 for free. ~~There are so many talented fic writes who don't think disabled people deserve to die.~~

Final thoughts:

This book did not make me cry. It did make me feel a lot of strong emotions, which it intended. It was mostly an “easy” read in that the prose was straight forward, but sometimes I didn’t know who was talking and about whom- that might be the audio book.

Keep in mind:
Disabled people do not need fixing. Their lives are not worth less.
Being queer is OK. It doesn't make you lesser or unworthy, abusive or deserving of abuse.

The thesis statement of this book is: Bury your gays AND your disabled people.

mizzbooks_'s review against another edition

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5.0

I waited to read this book… and waited, and waited and waited. Because I was scared.
AND I HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE SCARED BECAUSE THIS BOOK BROKE ME. I’m still trying to find most of the million pieces my heart was shattered in. I feel like this book is not just “sad”, it’s actually everything you could possibly imagine. It’s love, it’s catastrophic, it’s amazing, it’s cosy but at the same time it makes you wanna throw up for how many times it keeps you on your toes. And YES it is even relatable sometimes. I personally suffered from self harm, depression, etc… so I would put a little TW if you think you’re not okay reading about these topics.

adelleslibrary's review against another edition

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2.0

honestly i think my expectations for this book ruined it for me a little, i can’t say i expected more, but i definitely expected to shed at least one tear (and i finished it on my period so i expected at least TWO tears)
i hated JB with passion through the whole book(sorry i guess?)
the long chapter were sometimes TOO long for me, and at the end i was starting to zone out.