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A review by desireeslibrary
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
5.0
Hanya has definitely become a favorite of mine after this one.... holy shit. Let me start by saying that if you are uncomfortable with moral relativism and prefer to view the world in black and white, this isn't for you. This book challenges everything you think you understood about science, and intellectually touches on topics such as misogyny, colonialism, environmentalism, naturalism, speciesism, ethics, morality, sociopathy, pedophilia, aging and death and so much more. This is by absolutely no means an easy read, nor it is easily digestible. There are a shit ton of footnotes, that you absolutely HAVE to read because they become their own story, and certain chapters you have to go back and re-analyze in order to weave the plot together. But I promise you.... it is sosososo worth it. This is not a novel for those of you who want an "easy read". This is for those of you who want to be ripped out of their comfort zone, who want to be shaken out of complacency.
And the WRITING??? Wow just wow. It is perfect. It is immensely powerful and memorizing and I cannot say enough good things about it.
I had seen a blog post or a review somewhere that brought these questions into the conversation when referencing this novel and I had to share because a lot of these were questions I had scribbled in the margins: What happens when man aspires to be a god? When we encroach on the world of the gods, when we see what we are not meant to see, how can anything but disaster follow? Or to be even more direct: what price do we place on progress? What are we willing to sacrifice and forgive? How do we view a man with a great mind who's not so great in his personal life? Is he a legend or a monster? Should one, like Faust, sell his very soul for immortality? Does the very quest for the forbidden turn us into something less-than-human?
One of the best books, if not THE best I have read all year. Deeply disturbing and provocative.
And the WRITING??? Wow just wow. It is perfect. It is immensely powerful and memorizing and I cannot say enough good things about it.
I had seen a blog post or a review somewhere that brought these questions into the conversation when referencing this novel and I had to share because a lot of these were questions I had scribbled in the margins: What happens when man aspires to be a god? When we encroach on the world of the gods, when we see what we are not meant to see, how can anything but disaster follow? Or to be even more direct: what price do we place on progress? What are we willing to sacrifice and forgive? How do we view a man with a great mind who's not so great in his personal life? Is he a legend or a monster? Should one, like Faust, sell his very soul for immortality? Does the very quest for the forbidden turn us into something less-than-human?
One of the best books, if not THE best I have read all year. Deeply disturbing and provocative.