A review by scland09
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I think this book was beautifully written, and there were parts I enjoyed. The descriptions of the characters’ relationships, especially at inflection points, were lovely. But in the end a few things bothered me too much to truly like the book. 

First, I can’t understand the narrative choice of introducing us to four main characters in such detail, only to follow two for the next 650 pages. Malcolm and JB went from central characters to “only there to further the plot.” It felt weird to do that to the two Black characters. My other big issue was that Jude’s past felt like a grotesque caricature of trauma. A compelling character study could be made if he had gone through just one or two of the traumas the author describes. The amount and detail of each trauma felt like overkill; they didn’t add anything to the story other than an air of unbelievability. I don’t think “trauma porn” is the right description for a work of fiction, but it really felt like the other asked herself “what is the worst thing that can happen to a person” and decided to add everything she could think of, however outlandish, with no thought to balance. As mentioned, this is what made it go from character study to caricature to me. The other things that bugged me were small — like really? All four friends became so successful in their fields as to have multiple residences on multiple continents? — and I think they irked me more because of my two main issues. Again, though, the writing was beautiful, which saved this from being a 1- or 2-star read for me.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings