Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - A Little Life

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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

7 reviews

rachel_emily22's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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emmarauchtcamel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

i don’t know what’s going on in hanya yanagihara’s mind but damn this woman made my heart shatter into a million pathetic little pieces and called it a day

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alycnsuha's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

I'm glad i decided to pick up this book.

Honestly I still got confused about who's the author talking about until the 3rd chapters but nvm. The plot was actually good I love how details the stories are. But I think the ending is a little uhh cliffhanging(??) since they didn't actually tell what happened to Jude that made him became 👼🏻👼🏻

I've grown to love them so much especially Jude and Willem. I feel like I've watched them growing up my whole life. My poor Jude... anyways it didn't get me sobs for hours. Yes I did shed tears a little and had me to stop reading and relax myself. It was a neverending tragedies I'm so proud of Jude for trying and holding until his last breath. Those shits he went through wasn't easy I'm so glad he had people who actually cares and love for him. This book has got me realizing that there are few of peoples who do cares about us but sometimes we can't see it because we resent them. I have my all respect and love for Harold, he lost the people who he loves and cares the most. I'm thankful for Harold and Willem the most for not giving up on Jude, for always being the with him, help and gives all the affection he secretly craves, for being so patient with him all their lives.

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maryroliza28's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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

I will start off by saying that this is one of the most well written, thought out, and incredible books I’ve ever read. I understand the criticism with it, some days it felt that the trauma was never ending. I’ve also read that people thought that this wasn’t a story to tell, that it was boring. I agreed at first, it has an incredibly slow start, takes about 300 pages for things to actually pick up. I read and finished 3 other books while reading this one. But, I think it helps with how you grow and develop with the characters

Let me first say, I am so sorry Jude. You were failed time and time again by so many people. You didn’t deserve any of the horrible things that happened to you. I don’t blame you for ending it, you stuck it out for as long as you could. I truly believe he would’ve lived a long and beautiful life if Willem and Malcolm didn’t die. His trauma was intense, Caleb’s scene was so nauseating and infuriating, I felt my heartache for this fictional character. I wished that, in specific, that scene could’ve been told like Dr Traylor and Brother Luke scenes, brief but to the point. I’m so glad that he was able to feel love in his life, even if the one that loved him most and so deeply left before he was ready. Harold and Julia’s storyline with him was so touching, proving that no matter how old you are, you will always need parents. I’m glad that Andy tried as hard as he could to keep him alive and healthy, if Jude didn’t die first I wouldn’t have been surprised if he killed himself after Andy died. So many people loved Jude greatly, I’m sure he knows that. He was doomed from the beginning. I wish I could tell Jude to snap out of it, to get the help he deserves. I feel as if I also never saw him as older than 30, that he stopped aging in my mind since he himself never changed. He was still denying his truth, up until the very end. I know he passed when he was about 55, but in my head he’s basically a child wearing a trench coat pretending to be an adult. And I also think he felt like that too. I wished that his happiness didn’t have a time limit, hopefully in another universe he never got hurt, he just fell in love with Willem and they got married.

Of the other three, Willem is my favorite. He treated Jude with such grace and love, they were soulmates. They needed each other. Willem’s storyline was incredible as well, I didn’t like that he said that he wasn’t gay, just in love with Jude. Like, if you are actively wanting to have sex with a man, I think you’re gay. But, despite that, he tried so hard to make sure Jude knew that he was okay and deserving of good things. My stomach dropped when he and Malcolm died, so horrifically as well. Willem has his own trauma and tried his best. I do agree with the criticism that he pictured Jude as Hemming, which is also heartbreaking. I’m glad that Jude called him out on it, but he was just trying to help the best he could.

I think he was set up to be this way, but JB was a terrible, disgusting human. I don’t care if it was because of his own trauma or because he was an addict, you do not treat your friends who have put up with so much of your shit like that. It was disgusting to see how he developed, having left a bad taste in my mouth when the last time we heard from him he kissed Jude while he was not trying to pass out. Plus, using your friends’ trauma in your own art without permission? Are you kidding!? I am a JB hater, he had the most privileged upbringing of them all and his reasoning for becoming an addict was because he wasn’t traumatized enough to keep up with Willem and Jude? Sinister behavior, genuinely mad that he was left of the four of them. I don’t blame Jude wishing that he died instead of Willem and Malcolm.

Malcolm, my sweet baby angel who just wanted to build structures and have a nice life with his wife. He was a very neutral character for me, never really upset me or made me feel like I shouldn’t like him. He deserved better, he worked so hard to get to where he was and the fact that it was all stripped from him broke me.

Harold and Julia brought out my own parental trauma, the fact that they met this damaged, troubled young boy and brought him, gave him a job and helped me just because they could is so incredible of the two of them. My favorite (and seemingly everybody’s favorite) quote is said by him at the end of the book, matter of fact on the very last page, “It isn’t only that he died, or how he died; it is what he died believing. And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.” I truly think Harold tried the hardest out of all of them to make sure that he was taken care of. The entire Lispenard Street section was one of the most heartbreaking shows of love I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Harold lost two sons, both by illness and it’s heartbreaking. To love someone so much, to not care about the trauma and to treat them with such grace and gentleness is so inspiring to read. Both he and Julia are beautiful souls.

This book was also beautifully written. I don’t agree with the trauma porn accusations, there were some good parts. Trauma porn is when it’s just mindless pain and suffering with no end in sight. It’s a tragic story, genuinely, but trauma porn is too aggressive of a title. I do think you have to be in the right headspace to read this book, it was incredibly hard to read. It took me a little over two months to read it, but I did consider DNFing it a few times. But, I needed to know what would happen to Jude, poor baby Jude. Would love it if Yanagihara ever wrote an alternate universe book where they all grew old together, living on the same property in houses Malcolm built and just spending their days laughing and making art.

I’ve grown to love and be attached to these characters. Each of them have different qualities and quirks that I love (other than you, JB). I’m so sad that my daily routine will no longer involve them, being able to know what is coming next in their lives.

I am also choosing to separate art from the artist, but part of me feels that Yanagihara did take inspiration from her own past to write this book, based on interviews. Absolutely horrific, I hope she wakes up from her own trauma soon.

5/5 stars, I would not recommend this to a friend.

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