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whatannikareads 's review for:
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lord have mercy. it took me 7 months to finish this goddamn book and i have so many feelings i cannot articulate so im doing the simplest thing and making a good/bad things list!!!!! it's getting a 2.5, i physically cannot get my body to round up to 3, i think it'd be a disservice to the personal struggle i had reading this book.
good things:
- hanya can write, don't get me wrong. it's 800 pages (my ebook version was 1500......bless my heart) but when i thought i was really done w this book it redeemed itself.
- the book IS peppered with some really important, touching, tender moments. and while i only sort of teared up towards the end, didn't really cry throughout; i think bc it took such an emotional toll to read this, i spaced it out and thus lost the emotional effect it could've had, i'll admit that.
- this is definitely a book that will stick with me--whether that's in a good or bad way i don't know yet. but it's something that would be great for discussions, and makes me feel connected to the book community in that i'm interested in reading all sorts of thoughts on this book.
bad things:
- this book could've been at least 100 pages shorter. there were so many minuscule, superfluous details that could've been omitted and felt like fluff, sort of pretentious as well. which brings me to
- there were so many characters that i couldn't focus/remember their significance in the story. i kept getting confused between richard, lucien, and i couldn't tell you who elijah was tbh. even though they were all sort of important at different points, usually when these characters were listed, they were just listed and i couldn't keep track.
- i feel like the brief description of "four friends graduating college and figuring out life" is really misleading and i hate it. 85% of this book revolves around jude and his suffering. only maybe the first 100ish pages are about the four of them, so that when we were in the midst of jude's suffering and we went back to jb or willem, i kinda didn't care. there wasn't really substantial relationship development at the beginning; they were just introduced as friends in the beginning.
- i'm putting jude's detailed suffering here although 1) i understand this is really what some people go through and 2) i understand that was hanya's goal--to have a character who never gets better. but my GOD, did we really have to get detailed descriptions on literally every way a person can self-harm or be abused?? like fuck dude!!!!!!!!!!!! obviously the trauma jude endured hasn't made him the most loveable personality but goddamn what am i supposed to do when the protagonist is at times so intolerable himself.
- the "great gay novel" title is debatable
i'm glad i can say i finished it but goddamn did i really gain anything from this
good things:
- hanya can write, don't get me wrong. it's 800 pages (my ebook version was 1500......bless my heart) but when i thought i was really done w this book it redeemed itself.
- the book IS peppered with some really important, touching, tender moments. and while i only sort of teared up towards the end, didn't really cry throughout; i think bc it took such an emotional toll to read this, i spaced it out and thus lost the emotional effect it could've had, i'll admit that.
- this is definitely a book that will stick with me--whether that's in a good or bad way i don't know yet. but it's something that would be great for discussions, and makes me feel connected to the book community in that i'm interested in reading all sorts of thoughts on this book.
bad things:
- this book could've been at least 100 pages shorter. there were so many minuscule, superfluous details that could've been omitted and felt like fluff, sort of pretentious as well. which brings me to
- there were so many characters that i couldn't focus/remember their significance in the story. i kept getting confused between richard, lucien, and i couldn't tell you who elijah was tbh. even though they were all sort of important at different points, usually when these characters were listed, they were just listed and i couldn't keep track.
- i feel like the brief description of "four friends graduating college and figuring out life" is really misleading and i hate it. 85% of this book revolves around jude and his suffering. only maybe the first 100ish pages are about the four of them, so that when we were in the midst of jude's suffering and we went back to jb or willem, i kinda didn't care. there wasn't really substantial relationship development at the beginning; they were just introduced as friends in the beginning.
- i'm putting jude's detailed suffering here although 1) i understand this is really what some people go through and 2) i understand that was hanya's goal--to have a character who never gets better. but my GOD, did we really have to get detailed descriptions on literally every way a person can self-harm or be abused?? like fuck dude!!!!!!!!!!!! obviously the trauma jude endured hasn't made him the most loveable personality but goddamn what am i supposed to do when the protagonist is at times so intolerable himself.
- the "great gay novel" title is debatable
i'm glad i can say i finished it but goddamn did i really gain anything from this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Vomit, Death of parent
Minor: Dementia