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A review by leakaroo
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
People who recommend this book casually are INSANE!! Unrated because I constantly switch between loving and hating this book, however I do think ultimately it is misinformed and does more harm than good.
1. Hanya is a straight woman. She is writing in the perspective of gay (?) men and this is not the only book of hers where she is writing about sexual abuse in male relationships. Frankly comes off as fetishising as she is exploring this plot more than once. She could well have made Jude a woman, but I think the reason this book is so popular is due to the very fact that Jude is a man and that somehow the abuse can be seen as "poetic" or "heart-wrenchingly sad" instead of plain disturbing due to the gender. In my opinion, if EVERY SINGLE thing in this book stayed the same EXCEPT that Jude was a woman, this book would be 100% hated on- change my mind!
2. The view on therapy that this book takes is highly questionable!!! It's very obvious that no research was done and there is no background in psychology or actual understanding of therapy and human psyche etc. The message we are left with at the end of this book is 'it doesn't matter if you're a good person, it doesn't matter if you find support, some people's only choice is suicide'.
2.5. As a result of this underlying message, two of the beloved characters (who I also personally loved) actually end up being lowkey villainsAndy and Harold are constantly threatening to get Jude admitted into a psych ward, but never doing it. Like... why not?! They were enabling Jude if anything omg. This made Andy and Harold seem very neglectful and actually bringing more harm to Jude when they could have easily helped him.
3. Willem is problematicWillem & Jude's relationship is highly toxic and I would NOT call them "soulmates" or "lovers". Willem has sex with Jude KNOWING Jude probably suffered SA/trauma in the past (Idk which page it was, but theres a part where Willem acknowledges he knows that Jude doesn't want to have sex with him, however the desires in him override that concern. This goes back to my issue with the 'fetishisation' of gay relationships. I can't understand how some people see Willem and Jude as soul mates- they have a very harmful relationship.
Anyways, I would never recommend this book (please stop recommending this book so casually i'm BEGGING). BUT I admit I still think this is really well-written and emotionally impactful. It's torturous on another level, and yet sparks interesting conversations. Honestly would be a great book club book just for the fact that this is so discussable. But yeah, you see how this book is such a conundrum.
1. Hanya is a straight woman. She is writing in the perspective of gay (?) men and this is not the only book of hers where she is writing about sexual abuse in male relationships. Frankly comes off as fetishising as she is exploring this plot more than once. She could well have made Jude a woman, but I think the reason this book is so popular is due to the very fact that Jude is a man and that somehow the abuse can be seen as "poetic" or "heart-wrenchingly sad" instead of plain disturbing due to the gender. In my opinion, if EVERY SINGLE thing in this book stayed the same EXCEPT that Jude was a woman, this book would be 100% hated on- change my mind!
2. The view on therapy that this book takes is highly questionable!!! It's very obvious that no research was done and there is no background in psychology or actual understanding of therapy and human psyche etc. The message we are left with at the end of this book is 'it doesn't matter if you're a good person, it doesn't matter if you find support, some people's only choice is suicide'.
2.5. As a result of this underlying message, two of the beloved characters (who I also personally loved) actually end up being lowkey villains
3. Willem is problematic
Anyways, I would never recommend this book (please stop recommending this book so casually i'm BEGGING). BUT I admit I still think this is really well-written and emotionally impactful. It's torturous on another level, and yet sparks interesting conversations. Honestly would be a great book club book just for the fact that this is so discussable. But yeah, you see how this book is such a conundrum.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism