BOOK REVIEW: A LITTLE LIFE BY HANYA YANAGIHARA

 BLURB

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.

MY THOUGHTS

Was it traumatic / sad? Yes

Did you cry? I did inside...

Did the book have triggers? (Rape, sex, child abuse, violence, every thing else)

Was it beautifully written? Yes

Would you consider rereading? Yes

Is it one of the best books you ever read? Absolutely.

Would you recommend it to others? YESSSSS

If you have been following my blog and IG @trinigirlreads, you would have seen this book in my current reads for a while. I had to take in this massive book in parts. I was determined to finish reading this before the end of 2022 mainly out of curiosity since many persons expressed that this has been one of the saddest book of all time.

First, this story is about friendship (lifelong friendship). Willem, Malcolm, JB and Jude became connected in college and we follow them as they navigate through young adulthood to older age. They all experience doubts, fears and insecurities in every aspect of their lives with respect to relationships and careers but it is Jude's mysterious life that takes the cake.

felt

A Little Life teaches many lessons one of which is that people never truly get over childhood trauma especially without the help of a therapist or counsellor. Jude's story was a lot to read. At one point I swore that he was a real person. Willem was the character though in the book that I connected with the most. In my opinion he was drawn to Jude mainly because of Jude's vulnerability and his need to be helped. While he was no doubt a true friend to Jude, at some points I wondered if his past had more to do with the relationship they had.

I truly loved Harold for what he did for Jude. JB was misunderstood I felt because I think that of the four friends he and Jude were more alike than they realised. Malcolm just disappeared after the first half of the book though. I may have liked to hear more about him, But I get that Jude was a lot to unpack.

In all this was a great story. not for the weak of heart that's for sure but one that needed to be told. Very often we believe that we do not need others. But this book is evidence that no matter who we are we all need friends and love in our lives.