A review by jessietn
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was impeccably well written, one of the most well written books I’ve ever read. Although it is a very long book full of difficult content, I found it easy to become absorbed in the writing and read for more than 100 pages at a time (before promptly taking a mental health break for a couple of days..).

Yes, this story contains many horrifying and unflinching accounts of abuse, as well as self harm. It was not enjoyable to read these, but I wouldn’t personally classify it as misery or torture porn just because they exist. In my opinion, the author felt that they were necessary to adequately explain the extreme behaviour and suffering of the main character. I would also add that abuse is a very real problem and that by reading about it we might learn how to better help survivors.

To me, this story was mostly about the failures of masculinity. It’s difficult to review it fully without spoilers, so spoilers now follow.
The ultimate tragedy was the failure of Jude’s friends the help him. He had a wide support system of friends, found a family, and a doctor he could rely on. But all of them were men (with the exception of Julia, who is largely absent in the text; Ana, who is dead; and a handful of side characters) and despite their genuine love and affection for Jude, they fail again and again to realise the true extent of his pain, and/or to respond in an emotionally appropriate manner. The default response to Jude’s self harm was anger and frustration, directed towards him, only exacerbating his problems. It isn’t that they did not care enough, only that they were emotionally ill equipped to help someone who was hurting deeply (even Andy, the doctor, who should know better but treats Jude more as a friend than a patient). Of course, Jude was clever and hid everything very well from all of them (until Willem) but there should have been too many signs for them to collectively ignore.

My main criticisms were that I found the abusive counsellor plot line to be somewhat far fetched - it’s not that something like that happening isn’t probable, only that the writing in those parts felt weaker and less believable - and that I did not immediately believe Willem’s romantic feelings toward Jude. I also didn’t feel that he would have needed sex so much that he ignored the very obvious reluctance of his partner to have it - this was out of character to me, not to mention painful to read, and one of the times when it felt the story was veering slowly toward misery porn. It was a relief to read him realising his own “wilful naivety” later in The Happy Years.


Overall, I thought it was an incredible book with so much love, but more heartbreak, and some very important takeaways. Check in with your loved ones, and don’t always believe them when they tell you they’re fine.
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