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shannonmahoney 's review for:
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
This painful and depressing book has consumed the better part of my week and effected me so intensely not only at the end, but really throughout the whole uncomfortable thing. I had an actual physical reaction to this where I was just sitting here silently for a quite some time and I just can't even discuss that honestly.
This book definitely had a purpose: to be really upsetting, and it did succeed at that so I mean there ya go.
The one thing here is that I feel like the book was trying to send this message that because of the awful childhood Jude had and all the trauma and issues he faces as a result of it he will never (and really doesn't ever) fully recover mentally. And while that might be fairly realistic in the sense of real life not always having a happy ending, I feel like there was some point in the book where not only Jude, but also the other characters that have always supported him almost were like lets not even bother trying and nothing will work so therapy and attempts to help him are pointless while simultaneously also proceeding to help him later in the book? Point is, I don't think this whole concept of Jude being "unfixable" is a good message to send at all even if he is struggling, we shouldn't just leave him to suffer. I'm not sure if that explanation made sense, but I hope it did.
I also did not like this weird point in the book where Jude and Willem were having issues with their sex life and Willem says that he knows Jude isn't liking it and was abused and therefore is hurting himself more as a result of it, but still wants to do it? While Jude hadn't told him this he says he knew. I know he stops at some point and was glad to see it, but the fact that he said that he knew, but still did it was really weird to me and then was just completely brushed over in the book which I found pretty strange. Like you know this is hurting him, but you're doing it anyway? What is that all about??
Poor Jude. I love you Jude. You deserved so much more from this world.
Overall, this was a really uncomfortable and emotional read that you feel really every second of like a punch right in the gut. That being said, I don't think this should be so loosely recommended to people who you don't really know unless they look up tws before reading. This is gunna hurt no matter who you are, but still. Its a great book if you wanna feel all of this heavy stuff basically from cover to cover, but if not I would stay away from it.
One things for sure, I'm never forgetting this book. I don't think I could if I wanted to.
This book definitely had a purpose: to be really upsetting, and it did succeed at that so I mean there ya go.
The one thing here is that I feel like the book was trying to send this message that because of the awful childhood Jude had and all the trauma and issues he faces as a result of it he will never (and really doesn't ever) fully recover mentally. And while that might be fairly realistic in the sense of real life not always having a happy ending, I feel like there was some point in the book where not only Jude, but also the other characters that have always supported him almost were like lets not even bother trying and nothing will work so therapy and attempts to help him are pointless while simultaneously also proceeding to help him later in the book? Point is, I don't think this whole concept of Jude being "unfixable" is a good message to send at all even if he is struggling, we shouldn't just leave him to suffer. I'm not sure if that explanation made sense, but I hope it did.
I also did not like this weird point in the book where Jude and Willem were having issues with their sex life and Willem says that he knows Jude isn't liking it and was abused and therefore is hurting himself more as a result of it, but still wants to do it? While Jude hadn't told him this he says he knew. I know he stops at some point and was glad to see it, but the fact that he said that he knew, but still did it was really weird to me and then was just completely brushed over in the book which I found pretty strange. Like you know this is hurting him, but you're doing it anyway? What is that all about??
Poor Jude. I love you Jude. You deserved so much more from this world.
Overall, this was a really uncomfortable and emotional read that you feel really every second of like a punch right in the gut. That being said, I don't think this should be so loosely recommended to people who you don't really know unless they look up tws before reading. This is gunna hurt no matter who you are, but still. Its a great book if you wanna feel all of this heavy stuff basically from cover to cover, but if not I would stay away from it.
One things for sure, I'm never forgetting this book. I don't think I could if I wanted to.