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A review by dhrish
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Link: Trigger warnings for "A Little Life"
The rating above isn't because “A Little Life” isn't a well-written book. I genuinely think it has some of the smartest writing I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
However, this book is painful to read. Regardless of how well one usually handles reading a book with such heavy content.
I do believe most people would benefit from reading A Little Life at least read once. It isn't a pleasant read by any stretch of the imagination. Moments of happiness are fleeting and most of the book is spent trying to figure out/engrossed in Jude’s life. This is a trauma read and I don't think there is another word better fit to describe the reading experience.
I would suggest reading it quickly though. Slowly, immersing myself into this story did no favours for me mentally.
“A Little Life” for all its unpleasantness is one that I probably will reread a few years from now and it did remind me that striving for contentment is important.
A quick note: I do urge anyone who is about to read this book to at least peruse through the above trigger warning link. However, if you aren't going to, I wouldn't recommend "A Little Life" to anyone with a history of self-harm (particularly cutting)
The rating above isn't because “A Little Life” isn't a well-written book. I genuinely think it has some of the smartest writing I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
However, this book is painful to read. Regardless of how well one usually handles reading a book with such heavy content.
I do believe most people would benefit from reading A Little Life at least read once. It isn't a pleasant read by any stretch of the imagination. Moments of happiness are fleeting and most of the book is spent trying to figure out/engrossed in Jude’s life. This is a trauma read and I don't think there is another word better fit to describe the reading experience.
I would suggest reading it quickly though. Slowly, immersing myself into this story did no favours for me mentally.
“A Little Life” for all its unpleasantness is one that I probably will reread a few years from now and it did remind me that striving for contentment is important.
A quick note: I do urge anyone who is about to read this book to at least peruse through the above trigger warning link. However, if you aren't going to, I wouldn't recommend "A Little Life" to anyone with a history of self-harm (particularly cutting)