Reviews with content warning for Car accident - A Little Life

Every accusation of this being unnecessary trauma porn is true. It claims to be about the lives and friendships of 4 men, but not even half way through the book it's made very clear that this is all about Jude and all the awful situations the authour revels in putting him through. The heavy-handedness when it comes to Judes suffering takes away a lot of whatever impact the authour thought she was making. The few moments Jude *isn't* being abused are way more interesting, as we actually get a hint of his actual personality (what little there is of it), rather than being Yanagiharas punching bag. Jude is clearly written to be the main character, but the author doesn't give him much character to begin with, so all talk about him being "post racial" just feels like lack of commitment, rather than whatever radical thing the authour thought she was doing with that. Don't even get me started on the horrible representation of gay men, this is *not* "the great gay novel" and whoever said that needs their head checked (although they'd probably share Yanagiharas views on how therapy doesn't work). Overall, this was a waste of over 700 pages. Even though queer representation in books could be better, a book written by a straight woman where most if not all of the gay sex is rape and most of the "gay men" are just pedos should not be met with this much acclaim.

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ophi_dprt's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Where do I start?
I feel overwhelmed with emotions. I feel like I went through four, five, six different lifetimes. Jude’s, Willem’s, JB’s, Malcom’s, Harold’s, Andy’s…
I never felt as strong emotions as I felt while reading. And I felt everything. Happiness, sadness, exhaustion, despair, anxiety. Yanagihara managed to put the reader in the shoes of the characters and we FEEL for them, with them, as them.
Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe this book. It’s a metaphor of life. If it’s cruel sides but the beautiful ones as well. Of love, it’s complexities, but its greater beauty. Of loss, the pain far greater than anyone could imagine, no matter how they prepare for it. Of happiness, which blinds you and tricks you until life strikes again and you find yourself stranded, lost, back to a place you foolishly forgot.
This book taught me of the beauty of life, of love. It will stay with me, for a very, very, very long time.

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wyabook234's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

When it comes to A Little Life by Hanya Yangihara, some people called this book a masterpiece, while others have been giving it a reputation as being "trauma porn". While I rated this book to be about four stars, it almost came to three because, at the late beginning, I was considering my thoughts about this book.

The book meanders initially with a simple plot other than snippets of Jude's troubled past at the monastery and the gang's interactions with each other. It was when the book got to the aftermath of a dangerously abusive relationship within the Axiom of Equality that Jude finally finds a semblance of romance and comfort with a romantic partner who is willing to share his life with him. That is when the narrative got me invested in the lives of these New Yorkers, how Jude's coping mechanisms are affecting all of them, and how they bring emotional destruction instead of peace within their relationships. Speaking of trauma, it does give a depressive insight into how trauma can last with a person and pertain them with wrong ideas on how to deal with that trauma when they get older. Even if it feels like the traumatic experiences that happened to Jude throughout the narrative are overdone, it can be argued that they further played up the emotional manipulation. This type of manipulative enticing for the reader's sentiments is one of the accusations that the book is accused of pushing within it's writing, even when the literary execution is well-written and enriched. When looking at these strong male bonds and how they, unfortunately, deteriorate when traversing from young adulthood to late fifties, it will be tough to see how they all disintegrate when you feel like the feelings of love and friendship have dried up by the end.

A Little Life has issues concerning its pacing, and the inclusion of the more disturbing abusive and medical events makes it feel like they are doing too much with detail in expressing how much a person can take. However, the book can be applauded for showing how a person can be so "broken" by their past and how it can take a toll on other people's emotional states, especially William, who's constantly pushed to his breaking point through the later half of the book. Whether you believe the story itself or Jude is enveloping or scheming to trigger you into tears, it's still a novel that unfolds much effort to let you see the enormity of their anguished lives.

A Little Life is good but it's not better in my eyes.

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mjrawls418's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

First off, this book needs to come with some serious trigger warnings, and by some i mean all of them. Honestly, reading this book was exhausting and had me irritated consistently. I can completely empathize and understand where the MC struggled but I find it difficult to feel connected to a story when the character doesn’t want
To help themselves in the slightest. Glad to be done with this book.

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