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A Little Life
Author: Hanya Yanagihara
Genre: Novel, Bildungsroman
Rating: 5/5
“What he knew, he knew from books, and books lied, they made things prettier.”
- Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
I came across this line and instantly knew this novel was Yanagihara’s sadistic juxtaposition to this statement; she constructs the most depressing, unfair novel—depicting pain and trauma in an exceedingly ghast manner. I have never experienced something so tender while reading. Though I was aware of the hardships depicted, I have never experienced them—reading A Little Life may have been the closest to that reality I’ll ever be. I feel both grateful and depressed that others have come closer.
A Little Life follows the lives of four college classmates—each enduring their own struggles and realities. They find themselves living in New York in search of successful careers and healthy relationships. The men are bound by their devotion to Jude, their enigmatic friend, haunted by his traumatic childhood. We are given a life to live beside the characters and suffer the darkness that entails. Human cruelty, impassioned love, and the intricacies of trauma are so striking that the possibility of both their presence and absence is unfathomable.
I want to note the importance of checking the trigger warnings in A Little Life; many intense topics are present, and with Yanagihar’s literary talent intensifying the experience, mental preparation is necessary.
After this book set the benchmark for emotional books, it set another—the diligence and excellence of its prose. A Little Life is so beautifully written that its 800 pages seem half its length. The writing is brilliant but the narrative was oppressive; I hardly thought about the composition or its merit. Yet, in such a novel, this is not a negative. There was a moment, as I sat on my couch reading, that I audibly gasped, and that sound was my only reminder that I was present.
My personal experience with A Little Life was grim. I found myself relating to feelings of Jude, and then resenting the fact I even considered our comparison. I was triggered by things I'd never experienced, exposed to pivotal concepts, and felt great sorrow even hours after closing the novel.
There is nothing quite like A Little Life. Hanya Yanagihara possesses a quaint talent for creating depth, emotion, and hypnotic literature. Sadistic and haunting, this novel has the ability to alter stubborn perspectives, simultaneously implanting itself in the reader's life with no future of departure.
I recommend with caution—and most importantly my condolences.
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