A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZEA Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as … OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE
A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.
Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s new novel, To Paradise, coming in January 2022.
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This may be the most controversial novel on the list. This is a love-it-or-hate-it novel. A big, sprawling story about a group of friends in New York City, it will definitely give your group something to talk about.
Finally finished reading A Little Life (it took me a while)! One of my all-time favorites.
It’s complex and really beautifully written — on more than one occasion I stopped to re-read a paragraph because I was so impressed by her insight. I also love books that follow characters and friend groups over large periods of time. I imagine it must be hard as a writer to cover that much ground and character development in a realistic way, but Yanagihara does so effortlessly.
I will say this book extremely depressing. It centers on abuse and childhood trauma, and does not shy away from graphic descriptions. But if you can stomach the painful parts, it’s entirely worth the read.
A tragic story that stays with you, it is a story with incredible depth and empathy. I am glad I read it. (However, if you are feeling depressed and are looking for a happy ending – give this one a miss for now and come back to it when you are in a good head space.)
Complex, abusive, ugly background for a brilliant attorney, with tragic consequences, but lots of friendship, love, caring and ambition on the road.
Great read 🙂 But v brutal 🙁
A few days ago I made a mistake and published a review of a book with spoilers without paying attention. As soon as I received the first message about my error, I quickly deleted the review. But this mistake, even though it lasted for a brief moment, made me suffer quite a bit. So I did what I always do in such unexplained moods-I took the thickest book I could find and read it. And although it seems that choosing such a book in such a depressing situation can be foolish, this time I don’t regret it for a moment.
There are quite a few books that moved me this past year of 2018, touching the exposed and sensitive points, which made me identify with the characters. But not many books made me cry as this one did. Like a surge that rises from the lower abdomen, climbs to the heart, grows up and up, and then the wave is shattered, and its fragments fly in all directions, and it is not splinters of water. These are tears. It’s me crying. Such crying was coming from the gut. A cry that made me choke — a scream that came from a great sadness enveloping me.
This book is difficult to read yet all in all it is only makes the reader more eager to keep on reading. Sink into it, to understand every word. And there are many words in it to explore. In all aspects it is heavy. And you have no idea how good this book is until it ends. And no matter how much it wounded me, I enjoyed it so much.
The book tells of friendship, about the good and evil in life.
Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm met for the first time at college, where their companies began, and it will last for five decades. From young boys who start their adult lives, they become the boys who make their way through life and are already middle-aged men, all of them successful in their careers.
Jude is a brilliant lawyer in one of the most successful law firms. Willem dreamed of becoming an actor all his life, fulfilling his dream and becoming an admired film and theater actor. Malcolm is an architect, and JB is an artist.
The book follows the lives of the four, but the central axis is Jude, and everything revolves mainly around him.
In addition to these four figures, there are 15-20 other characters whose presence is constant. It takes much talent to build so many aspects (while the ability is not to make but to create them; differentiate each character from the other, to give each one its color and voice, and let the reader enjoy the variety).
Every book I open and begin to read is for me a kind of promise; A promise of interest, of a journey. And this book fulfilled all that it had promised, and every superlative it received by me is in its place.
This book… is life changing. Absolutely breathtaking, beautifully written, heartbreakingly tragic but so, so moving. This is my new favorite book. I loved it sooooo much. Emotional and hard to read at times, but beyond worth it. Obviously I highly recommend it.
One of the best books I have ever had the pleasure to read.
I could not put this book down, although I had to take breaks to get facial tissues to sop up the tears. Yanagihara’s prose is beautiful and her scenes are haunting. She tackles many themes in this wonder of a novel: child sexual abuse, pedophilia, government organizations that entrap these children into ongoing assault, and the repercussions on a life that has lived through such horrible abuse. But she offers hope that love can be found in so many forms and that is the beauty of this novel. It seems like a long book but it is over too soon.
This will go down as one of my top ten reads of all time. I still think about Jude and the beautiful friendships that shaped and sustained him. Cried a river at the end.
My younger son rarely recommends I read a book. He handed me his copy and said I would find it an involving read. He was right. It’s a looooong book, revolving around Jude, a man who has faced more adversity and abuse than seems humanly possible. His friendship and love with Willem is a wonderful thing, meeting in college (along with JB and Malcom). Despite the tragedies of this story, it did not leave me depressed. Rather I was impressed with the invincibility of the human spirit against nearly impossible odds. I wish I was still in the middle of the book so I could savor it all over again.
beautifully written story of friendship, love, surviving abuse.
I am sorry to be such a curmudgeon about this book, which has been so highly reviewed. It is a little like the fairy tale of the Emperors New Clothes. I don’t see them!
Impossible to tell the story of this book without spoilers–in fact the entire book is one spoiler after another. I made it to page 200 before I gave up.
I then went and read a web page where the ending was divulged and am very happy that I didn’t waste anymore of my time.
Beautifully written, and completely accessible, this author has created a masochistic victim, who is loved deeply by all. The profoundly damaged victim cannot gain the emotional strength to help himself.
Read it if you must.
Emotionally exhausting but unable to put down. The subject matter is disturbing but unfortunately realistic. The main characters stay with you for a long time after the last page has been read.
Yes, it’s just as unrelenting and sad (and long!) as everyone says. But it’s also a beautiful portrait of friendship and love over decades. I wouldn’t make a blanket recommendation to everyone I know, but I think there are many people who will find the book as moving and interesting as I did.
This is a book that I wouldn’t recommend to everyone. This is a book that has very dark (and I mean *dark*) subject matters. But the heart of the book goes beyond those subject matters. What makes this book amazing (aside from Yanagihara’s brilliant writing) are the characters at the heart of the story. All their experiences and sufferings elicit such strong and true emotions that no other book has been able to bring from me. This is a difficult book to read with a lot of ugliness in it, but if you’re able to see beyond them, you realize there is beauty and goodness hidden within its pages.
really heavy, really emotional. but so so good.
Perhaps the most intense experioence I’ve had with a book in the last several years. Really hard going and absolutely worth it.
Tragic is the only word to describe it. In fact it was too tragic and pathetic I had to put it down for good after the first half of the book. But met some people who really loved it. But it just wasnt for me.
I almost did not buy this book, the cover really turned me off, so exaggerated, farcical. I’m glad I was able to see past that cover and read it, it is excellent. The characters are well defined, which is a huge plus for me, and in more than a few places I was almost sobbing, and I’m not a crier! The experiences the characters go through, endure are sometimes horrific…but the book is so well written. It is a very rare treat that find a 4 book, but this one definitely rates.
I’m guessing you either love or hate this book. Its intensity could put you off. But the depth to which the author captures these characters is one of the most intimate reading experiences I’ve had. Crushing and thrilling at the same time. I feel privileged to have been welcomed “inside” these lives.