A review by dandiego_01
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I felt a whirlwind of emotions when reading this book. As soon as something happy happened, right afterwards, the author had to crush your hopes and dreams for the character. I found it difficult to come to terms with the injustice and extreme abuse of Jude. Although this book was an extremely painful read, I still took some of the opinions expressed in the book and made them my own (for example, with Willem's opinion on therapy). I also find myself craving the way she wrote mundane scenes in an immersive, comfortable writing style but I definitely had to close the book a few times on more graphic scenes (painful).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse