jillianalice 's review for:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I will be thinking about this book for the rest of my life. Definitely don’t read this if you are not doing well mentally, like I did. 

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE TITLE???

The only time “a little life” is said in the book is when Brother Luke tells Jude to have a “a little life” while being raped.

So many layers to that…. I’m a bit too disgusted to analyze it but maybe it’s a metaphor for how Jude is constantly trying to have a bit more life left in him. That phrase alone also had a ginormous impact on his approach to sex. The air of those words followed him into the bedroom and into his romantic relationship to Willem. He could never be truly authentic or vulnerable after that. 


It’s been a week since I finished it and it’s still too raw to review. The author is incredible because I fell so in love with Jude, Willem, Harold, and Andy that I felt sad for days following the ending. I cried too many times that it is embarrassing to admit. 

I have a complicated opinion on whether or not this book is trauama-porn. In the first 3/4 of the book I saw her vision, of showing how trauma follows you into every crevice of your life. And sometimes people don’t recover, no matter how well their life turns out or how many people love them. And their stories deserve to be told…. BUT I think she could have gotten her point across without Dr. Traylor… or the abhorrent severity of Caleb’s actions. At first I thought she approached the events in a respectful manner, but it was not necessary to describe the Caleb event so graphically. Or the self-harm scenes in such vivid detail. So I understand why this book is criticized as being trauma porn, she went a bit overboard. 

I do wish that Malcom and JB’s stories were told more. She depicted JB’s addiction so well, I think she could have explored it further. Malcom’s struggle with his sexuality and racial identity was also very intriguing, but not expanded on. 

I did love how deliberate her use of words is and lyrical that it is so easy to immersive yourself in their world. She described the complicated psyche and emotions of human beings so well. As someone who loves character driven novels, this was perfect. I highly doubt I will ever read a book that pierces me so deeply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail