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richelleaperry 's review for:
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated this book, but I was over 12 hours into the audio when I realized it was not going to get any better, and regrettably I trudged on through 20 more hours of listening time because I bought into the sunk cost fallacy.
Somehow, this is an almost 900 page book about 4 main characters that develops 3/4 of those characters barely at all. The unending abuse-after-abuse, trauma-after-trauma plot didn't make this feel like the Big Serious Novel it was trying to be and instead felt predictable and almost tedious by the end. The author's portrayal of gay and bisexual men, the majority of the characters in the book, felt borderline homophobic, and the last 2/3 of the book truly just felt like I was waiting forthe main character to inevitably kill himself.
I did not find the language to be nearly as compelling and beautiful as others do. For as much as this book dwells on the main character's decades of mental illness and overall misery, it notably and profoundly lacked much meaningful depth or reflection, instead just wallowing, so I was left feeling more bored and disengaged than sad.
I had to devote so much time to listening to this book in order to finish it before my Libby loan ended that I totally fell off the wagon with all my other reading. Totally regret reading this, there were truly no redeeming qualities in my eyes, and I wish I had DNFed it.
Somehow, this is an almost 900 page book about 4 main characters that develops 3/4 of those characters barely at all. The unending abuse-after-abuse, trauma-after-trauma plot didn't make this feel like the Big Serious Novel it was trying to be and instead felt predictable and almost tedious by the end. The author's portrayal of gay and bisexual men, the majority of the characters in the book, felt borderline homophobic, and the last 2/3 of the book truly just felt like I was waiting for
I did not find the language to be nearly as compelling and beautiful as others do. For as much as this book dwells on the main character's decades of mental illness and overall misery, it notably and profoundly lacked much meaningful depth or reflection, instead just wallowing, so I was left feeling more bored and disengaged than sad.
I had to devote so much time to listening to this book in order to finish it before my Libby loan ended that I totally fell off the wagon with all my other reading. Totally regret reading this, there were truly no redeeming qualities in my eyes, and I wish I had DNFed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence