Review by alisonsouder - A Little Life

alisonsouder 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

4.5

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was honestly one of the most beautiful books I've ever read in the sense that I loved the writing. I thought the way the characters were feeling and the way their lives were described was so powerfully written that even the mundane moments felt so real to me, and Hanya captured so many of the feelings we as individuals feel on a daily basis. This story was also absolutely heartbreaking and definitely the saddest book I've ever read. I fell in love with so many of the characters -

Willem will always be my favorite, as well as Harry and Julia who were the best parents Jude could've asked for, and Jude's doctor who was so selfless in everything he dropped for Jude. And then there's Jude, who had an insane amount of trauma that started to feel so ridiculous as more and more of it got revealed. It actually pained me to watch him struggle and to see how his childhood continue to affect the rest of his life.

Anyways, I finished this book in about a week and pretty much the entire time I was kinda depressed and didn't feel like my normal self, which I can attribute to this book being so so powerful and sad. It's not a light read and I would not recommend to anyone with any sort of triggers or who can't handle this kind of intense read. I don't want anyone else to have to go through this book, but it was also so beautiful that I have to give it a high rating and say it's one of the best written books I've ever written (minus .5 stars for the borderline insane amount of trauma dumping and some of the unnecessary graphic self harm scenes)

Content Warnings