A review by dakotavander
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

5.0

✍️ A Little Life by Hanna Yanagihara ✍️

This book me so long to finish not just because it’s a long book but because it is HEAVY. I simply could not stand more than a few hours of reading it a week. 

I get the criticism. I get the uncomfortable-ness of seeing a person, fictional or not, subjected to so many horrors in such unimaginable detail and in such a relatively short time. But, while I may not have experienced everything Jude had, I can say enough with experience that I felt very connected to him and his story, unfortunately. 

Reading this was difficult for me BECAUSE of how I related to Jude. I am very thankful for the kindness people close to me gave me in trying to warn me of how triggering this book could be. But thankfully, over the past two years, since I had been in treatment, I have the skills and supports that helped me process the events of this book and, in a way, it helped me process my own shit. In that way, this book was very cathartic. 

It was like, at moments, I was seeing how my life could have been if I hadn’t gotten help. If I hadn’t listened to the people around me and if I hadn’t believed them.

This book is definitely not for everyone. Not everyone will be able to compartmentalize the way they need to with the events of this book and that is more than understandable. But I loved this book. So much. I think it’s needed for people like me. And it’s written so well. This book is now proudly on my shelf and I will talk about it to anyone who will listen.