A review by jnvreads
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

4.75

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - Rating: 4.75/5⭐️

A Little Life follows four friends - Willem, Jude, JB, and Malcolm - from college lives. Littered with friendship, family, addition, failures, success, trauma and the trials and tribulations that come with every day. Soon honing in on Jude’s struggle to free himself from his past demons. A devastating novel on how everything is tied into the relationships we make and the people that come in and out of our lives. 

LIKES:

👍🏾 All of the personal life dynamics. JB’s families background that acquired to their faith in him reminded me so much of my husband’s family. Willem coming from a neutral ranch family that never asked for anything that left him feeling nothing. Malcolm stuck in his wealthy family’s ambitions. And Jude’s absolutely horrible childhood trauma. 

👍🏾 Having different perspectives (as JB put it - seeing them as appendages in each other lives while also seeing their distinct own stories).

👍🏾 Everything is over the top, but stated in such a beautiful prose that it doesn’t seem that way. To where these larger than life events are made to be trite and mundane. And if I may say, relatable. In the aspect that I think a lot of people can sympathize with the feeling of being different, damaged, used, and unloved (obviously not to Jude’s extent). But maybe even in one of the ways exhibited through each character. 

👍🏾 Also led to these sort of tangents (that weren’t really tangents) found in outlooks on life, backgrounds, educational backgrounds, artistic views, and more. That were all of these tiny details that would normally bore me and I would feel could be left out, but were actually very profound cognitively that I was soaking up every word of it. It really scratched some itch my brain needed

👍🏾 A fuller understanding of the effects from childhood trauma. The author shows the darker side to the reality of it all while also exhibiting how one can fight for recovery with whatever kindness we have left to have. The hope that it brings even a moment of light in the dark. And how sometimes, sadly, that exoneration  may never come. 

👍🏾 Beautifully heartbreaking so you know I was balling my eyes out. There were moments of hope and there were moments of despair. There were terrible relationships and there were beautiful relationships. It was amazing and devastating at the same time. I felt like I knew the characters, in turn experiencing all of their emotions. I needed to devour the book to hear their stories, but I also had to put it down because it was all too much. 

DISLIKES:

👎🏾 Getting used to the narratives took some work. Not only because it’s four different POVs (in third person) that would switch at weird times, but because of how the timelines were sometimes muddled. 

👎🏾 The implication that some people are just too broken to help. In no way eradicates the stigma against mental illness. And while the heartbreak was understandable, I think that the bad was painted so black and white. And if the author would have brought out the complexities of the grey area that most of us live in, it would’ve been more authentic. 

Overall, the point of the book is that nothing in life is positive. There is only suffering, fake connections, and the people that you love aren’t enough to save you. A raw and honest prose that I’ve ever had the pleasure and misfortune of reading.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the subject matter and heaviness of everything discussed in the book, I cannot in the right mind actually recommend it to anyone. Read with your own discretion.**