Reviews

Una vita come tante by Hanya Yanagihara

madeleine_p's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

m3lina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

mojidaa's review against another edition

5.0

I don't think I'll ever come across a book as devastrating as this but that didnt make me hate it. I loved this book. I loved this book so much that at one point, I almost wished that it didn't end. Almost, but I knew I couldnt take it any longer. But if more of it means I get to , to be able to stay with Jude for a little longer, I think I want to take that chance. I don't find myself thinking that this book was excessive. Yes, it was highly disturbing, traumatising and depressing and super graphic with every awful event contained within it. And yes, I did have to put the book down every once in a while because I couldn't take it anymore. But that was what made the book so realistic, so...I don't know, so authentic I think? I don't know if this will ever make sense but I just feel like life doesn't always guarantee you a happily ever after, it certainly doesn't guarantee you that you'll get better, or that you will always be healed after what uve been through. And I think Hanya did very well in showing how broken beyond repaired jude was, and how she chose to write about this tragic part of reality that a lot of people, myself included, have been trying so hard to look past it. To pretend that something, no matter how broken it is, will always be repaired when in reality, there is literally no absolute guarantee that you will always, always find a solution to your every problem. So yeh, I loved this book. I had a hard, despressing but wonderful time reading it. Not that I'll ever reread it though, at least not for a very long while. More importantly, I loved Jude. I loved him so much. He might as well be my favourite fictional character of all time, judging from how much I wanted to see him in real life and give him the biggest hug ever.

seashelfs's review against another edition

5.0

I absolutely love this book but would definitely not recommend this to anyone. If you do decide to read it, make sure to be in a healthy state of mind and to check the trigger warnings. It probably contains all the trigger warnings possible.

malbread's review against another edition

4.0

CAUTION : Read it only if you wanna torture yourself

Somebody needs to teach this author the definition of 'Happiness'. I started it knowing nothing.
It took me around a month to finish cause I had to often physically stop myself from continuing it. But alas I finished it hoping for the best for the main character. Excellent writing but this kind of storytelling and depressing plot not my cup of tea.

irinareadsalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

jkingston's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

cowboybutnot's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kylecallen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

jnvreads's review against another edition

4.75

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - Rating: 4.75/5⭐️

A Little Life follows four friends - Willem, Jude, JB, and Malcolm - from college lives. Littered with friendship, family, addition, failures, success, trauma and the trials and tribulations that come with every day. Soon honing in on Jude’s struggle to free himself from his past demons. A devastating novel on how everything is tied into the relationships we make and the people that come in and out of our lives. 

LIKES:

👍🏾 All of the personal life dynamics. JB’s families background that acquired to their faith in him reminded me so much of my husband’s family. Willem coming from a neutral ranch family that never asked for anything that left him feeling nothing. Malcolm stuck in his wealthy family’s ambitions. And Jude’s absolutely horrible childhood trauma. 

👍🏾 Having different perspectives (as JB put it - seeing them as appendages in each other lives while also seeing their distinct own stories).

👍🏾 Everything is over the top, but stated in such a beautiful prose that it doesn’t seem that way. To where these larger than life events are made to be trite and mundane. And if I may say, relatable. In the aspect that I think a lot of people can sympathize with the feeling of being different, damaged, used, and unloved (obviously not to Jude’s extent). But maybe even in one of the ways exhibited through each character. 

👍🏾 Also led to these sort of tangents (that weren’t really tangents) found in outlooks on life, backgrounds, educational backgrounds, artistic views, and more. That were all of these tiny details that would normally bore me and I would feel could be left out, but were actually very profound cognitively that I was soaking up every word of it. It really scratched some itch my brain needed

👍🏾 A fuller understanding of the effects from childhood trauma. The author shows the darker side to the reality of it all while also exhibiting how one can fight for recovery with whatever kindness we have left to have. The hope that it brings even a moment of light in the dark. And how sometimes, sadly, that exoneration  may never come. 

👍🏾 Beautifully heartbreaking so you know I was balling my eyes out. There were moments of hope and there were moments of despair. There were terrible relationships and there were beautiful relationships. It was amazing and devastating at the same time. I felt like I knew the characters, in turn experiencing all of their emotions. I needed to devour the book to hear their stories, but I also had to put it down because it was all too much. 

DISLIKES:

👎🏾 Getting used to the narratives took some work. Not only because it’s four different POVs (in third person) that would switch at weird times, but because of how the timelines were sometimes muddled. 

👎🏾 The implication that some people are just too broken to help. In no way eradicates the stigma against mental illness. And while the heartbreak was understandable, I think that the bad was painted so black and white. And if the author would have brought out the complexities of the grey area that most of us live in, it would’ve been more authentic. 

Overall, the point of the book is that nothing in life is positive. There is only suffering, fake connections, and the people that you love aren’t enough to save you. A raw and honest prose that I’ve ever had the pleasure and misfortune of reading.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the subject matter and heaviness of everything discussed in the book, I cannot in the right mind actually recommend it to anyone. Read with your own discretion.**