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A review by bedwellbooks
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I think that this book is a challenging and emotional read. The main character, Jude, goes through the worst trauma imaginable. As you are trying to piece together information about his past, you are also learning about his current life, how he is trying to maneuver his way, as well as how he and his friends feel about him. He keeps his personal life very secret, until he can’t anymore, and even then,
he still doesn’t tell his father about his childhood until he is already passed away, in the form of a letter.
I think that if you are triggered by things like dr*g abuse, s*xual abuse, or self h*rm and s*icide, I would not recommend this book, because those are all graphically mentioned, as the main character tries to come to terms with his own life and what he wants for the people around him. It was just as sad as everyone says, but I did not cry, which I was surprised about. Maybe I have no feelings. I also think that I probably would have DNF this book if I hadn’t just come off of a reading frenzy with ACOTAR. I think that helped me speed this book along, but I can see many others thinking that this book is slow. I definitely will not reread, that’s for sure. 
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