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A review by canadanus
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
Oh my god what was this book?
(spoilers!)
(After a bit of critical thinking, I have changed my rating from a 5 star to a 4 star)
Let me start with something easy: the prose. This book has a very beautiful writing style that isn't ever overbearing (maybe some people would say it's too literary, but I prefer flowery language). The writing also had a very good flow and variation and overall, (ignoring the subject matter) it was a joy to read.
The important characters had developed personalities and I could totally understand everything they did, though I feel like there were soooo many characters in this book and the only woman with more than like five lines of dialogue was lowkey fridged.
The plot of this book was basically in the shape of a zigzagging line going slowly but surely down to rock bottom. It was so inevitable and every time things looked like they were lightening up, I knew that something horrible would happen next. This somewhat gave a repetitive feel, and I was always thinking about the worst thing that could possibly happen next to prepare myself.
Speaking about "worst thing that could possible happen," I honestly didn't like the part when it's all sunshine and rainbows and it looks like Jude is going to start enjoying life when suddenly his reason for living (aka Willem) is killed out of nowhere in a car accident.
I think this book is like Dead Poets Society, in that if you stop reading near the end at just the right page, it gets a happy and relatively complete ending. But of course that's not where the book ends.
In Dead Poets Society, the movie gets suddenly sadder because of actions by the characters which make total sense for them. In A Little Life, it's a complete coincidence that turns this book into a tragedy, and I feel that past the halfway point, complete coincidences can no longer satisfyingly be used as major plot points. This book did not end as it did because it was inevitable that the characters would make their own flawed mistakes that would ultimately cause their downfalls, this book ended as it did because the author wanted it to end sadly and needed something horrible to happen. I think this is a crucial difference which makes A Little Life fall a bit flat.
And I honestly feel that the ending didn't completely justify the book. This is a very long book, and I spent hours and hours in suspense, inching steadily towards what I knew was going to be a tragic ending. However, the ending was honestly kind of disappointing considering everything that lead up to it. I'm not saying that it had to have a happy ending and not a sad one, but when I finished it, I went "Oh it's over," when I feel like, if it was just a little bit different, I could've been losing my mind over it. I don't know what this difference is, just that it exists.
I feel that this book was kind of repetitive and it probably needed a less forgiving editor. And I am saying this as someone who loves long, indulgent books and doesn't necessarily believe that every scene has to forward the plot. I'm just saying that, especially in the latter half of the book, it felt like reading "Jude swims for an hour. Jude goes to Rosen Pritchard and works until it was the next morning. Jude cuts himself. Andy yells at him" over and over and over again. I swear it had to have been an exercise in how many ways you can write the same thing. And I am a person who likes the "unnecessary" parts, the philosophical musings, the backstories, the extended metaphors, the imagery, the things that don't mean anything to the greater story but are just symbolic. I'm just saying that instead of having the same thing written so many times, maybe there should've been some more variety.
And I do understand that this repetitious, slow-paced hopelessness is in part symbolic and did give me greater insight to what Jude's life must've felt, but I think a line was crossed.
You might now wonder why I still am giving this book a 5 stars, and I'm honestly wondering that too. I think it's just, for all its flaws, this book will not leave me. I feel like a part of me is stuck in this book, or perhaps a part of me has been born through reading this book. I feel like I know the characters as if I've met them in real life. There's a quote that goes like "Someone who reads lives a thousand lives; someone who doesn't read lives only one" and honestly, reading this book felt like living a thousand lives. And it's not often that a book makes me feel that way.
EDIT: Once the cascade of emotions this book gave me wore off, I realize that it does not deserve a 5 star and I will instead change to a 4 star.
Hanya Yanagihara is a very talented writer and I'm so amazed at how she managed to keep track of everything.
(spoilers!)
(After a bit of critical thinking, I have changed my rating from a 5 star to a 4 star)
Let me start with something easy: the prose. This book has a very beautiful writing style that isn't ever overbearing (maybe some people would say it's too literary, but I prefer flowery language). The writing also had a very good flow and variation and overall, (ignoring the subject matter) it was a joy to read.
The important characters had developed personalities and I could totally understand everything they did, though I feel like there were soooo many characters in this book and the only woman with more than like five lines of dialogue was lowkey fridged.
The plot of this book was basically in the shape of a zigzagging line going slowly but surely down to rock bottom. It was so inevitable and every time things looked like they were lightening up, I knew that something horrible would happen next. This somewhat gave a repetitive feel, and I was always thinking about the worst thing that could possibly happen next to prepare myself.
Speaking about "worst thing that could possible happen," I honestly didn't like the part when it's all sunshine and rainbows and it looks like Jude is going to start enjoying life when suddenly his reason for living (aka Willem) is killed out of nowhere in a car accident.
I think this book is like Dead Poets Society, in that if you stop reading near the end at just the right page, it gets a happy and relatively complete ending. But of course that's not where the book ends.
In Dead Poets Society, the movie gets suddenly sadder because of actions by the characters which make total sense for them. In A Little Life, it's a complete coincidence that turns this book into a tragedy, and I feel that past the halfway point, complete coincidences can no longer satisfyingly be used as major plot points. This book did not end as it did because it was inevitable that the characters would make their own flawed mistakes that would ultimately cause their downfalls, this book ended as it did because the author wanted it to end sadly and needed something horrible to happen. I think this is a crucial difference which makes A Little Life fall a bit flat.
And I honestly feel that the ending didn't completely justify the book. This is a very long book, and I spent hours and hours in suspense, inching steadily towards what I knew was going to be a tragic ending. However, the ending was honestly kind of disappointing considering everything that lead up to it. I'm not saying that it had to have a happy ending and not a sad one, but when I finished it, I went "Oh it's over," when I feel like, if it was just a little bit different, I could've been losing my mind over it. I don't know what this difference is, just that it exists.
I feel that this book was kind of repetitive and it probably needed a less forgiving editor. And I am saying this as someone who loves long, indulgent books and doesn't necessarily believe that every scene has to forward the plot. I'm just saying that, especially in the latter half of the book, it felt like reading "Jude swims for an hour. Jude goes to Rosen Pritchard and works until it was the next morning. Jude cuts himself. Andy yells at him" over and over and over again. I swear it had to have been an exercise in how many ways you can write the same thing. And I am a person who likes the "unnecessary" parts, the philosophical musings, the backstories, the extended metaphors, the imagery, the things that don't mean anything to the greater story but are just symbolic. I'm just saying that instead of having the same thing written so many times, maybe there should've been some more variety.
And I do understand that this repetitious, slow-paced hopelessness is in part symbolic and did give me greater insight to what Jude's life must've felt, but I think a line was crossed.
You might now wonder why I still am giving this book a 5 stars, and I'm honestly wondering that too. I think it's just, for all its flaws, this book will not leave me. I feel like a part of me is stuck in this book, or perhaps a part of me has been born through reading this book. I feel like I know the characters as if I've met them in real life. There's a quote that goes like "Someone who reads lives a thousand lives; someone who doesn't read lives only one" and honestly, reading this book felt like living a thousand lives. And it's not often that a book makes me feel that way.
EDIT: Once the cascade of emotions this book gave me wore off, I realize that it does not deserve a 5 star and I will instead change to a 4 star.
Hanya Yanagihara is a very talented writer and I'm so amazed at how she managed to keep track of everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol