A review by ginagirlgenius
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

A couple people have stopped me on the subway to tell me what a great book I was reading or how sad it was, things I agree with. The cover is kind of complicated. An amazing book. I liked To Paradise, which I read first, better. Interesting that both books focus on gay men and there are few women protagonists or characters in either.

I found the protagonist’s & his friend’s high success not believable even though I know it’s meant to contrast with his horrific abusive past. I suppose living in New York and knowing you’d have to be incredibly privileged and lucky for this to be true took me out of the book a bit. I find this is also a bit in To Paradis but without the nightmarish past.
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