A review by lauravreads
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The synopsis in the back of the book makes it seem as if the entire novel revolves around four best friends however, Jude is the protagonist in the book, and after the first 200 pages, the other three best friends are more of a background than the vocal point. 

This book is beautifully written, and Yanagihara does an amazing job of captivating the reader and getting you to feel for each of the characters. This is a pretty lengthy book and it’s hard to not be emotionally entangled with these characters. That being said, there are a lot of traumatic experiences throughout this book, and they were many times when I had to put it down for a cry break or because it was a bit abrasive.

I feel that This book could’ve easily been a five-star read because of how well it’s written, and how invested I was with these characters in their lives. However, I gave it a four-star, because the protagonist, Jude, is a man with a disability, and that is an integral part of his character. I have read a lot of works of literature regarding the disability community as well as worked with a disability community, my entire adult life. Many of the aspects that Yanagihara Portrays within the books are very dark. However, they seem to align with a lot of my understanding of this disability experience. 

While I think disability representation is important, I feel that the general public, may not be aware of the ableism within our society, but this book might shine some light on the disability movement. However, I feel that Yanagihara should not speak for the disabled community. There are many disabled authors out there and many books are already written or might be in the process of being written by disabled people that talk about the disability rights movement and talk about their place as disabled individuals, and it is not necessarily their place to write a book from the perspective of a disabled person.


Recommend reading for understanding disability and society:
  • The Pretty One by Keah Brown 
  • Disability Visibility editors by Alice Wong 
  • Capitalism and Disability by Marta Russell
  • Being Heumann by Judith Heumann
  • We’re Not Broken by Eric Garcia 
  • Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 
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