Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

~ Book Club Mom

A Little Life
by
Hanya Yanagihara

Rating: 5 out of 3.

I’m not sure why I was drawn to this book, but I’m pretty sure I first saw it when I added it to our library’s eBook collection a couple years ago. I did not know it weighed in at 832 pages! Once I start a book, I rarely abandon it and I had no trouble committing to reading this one. Published in 2015, A Little Life received widespread praise: National Book Award Finalist, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and winner of the Kirkus Prize. There are more than 68,000 reviews on Amazon.

The book follows four college friends who, after graduate school, begin their careers in New York. The story opens as Willem and Jude rent their first apartment. They have little money and no family to fall back on. Willem is an aspiring actor and Jude has just started a job working for the District Attorney’s office. Malcolm, an architect, still lives at home and although JB, an artist, has moved out, his doting mother, grandmother and aunts surround him with support.

Something is not quite right about Jude. His unexplained limp may explain his shyness, but readers learn early on that there’s a much bigger story.

I thought this was a great premise and settled in for a long story about their lives. Lately I’ve begun to appreciate longer books because you really feel like you’re immersed in the characters’ lives.

Now I’m going to explain why I’m only giving it three stars. This is the darkest and most depressing book I’ve read in a long time. After about 400 pages, I felt completely depleted. I hoped against hope against hope that something good would happen to Jude, who it turns out, has suffered trauma from a lifetime of unfathomable abuse and who, as an adult, cannot open up to his friends. Malcolm, JB, Willem, and a few other close friends do their best to protect Jude from the world, and himself, but time after time they fail.

Yanagihara’s writing is often beautiful, however, and I felt her characters’ emotions as they interacted with Jude. This is what kept me going. I also liked how the author embedded my favorite themes in the book: love, friendship, adulthood, happiness, and loneliness. On the other side of that, though, are the brutal and relentless chapters on abuse. This is not easy reading.

I also became frustrated by Jude and his friends’ wild successes. Except for the first chapter when Willem and Jude have no money and live in a dumpy apartment, everything they do is over the top. They’re brilliant. They skyrocket to the tops of their fields. They become fabulously wealthy, dress expensively, live in outrageous homes, travel the world, dine at the best restaurants. Money is just pouring out of their bank accounts.

I’m glad I read this book, but don’t think I can recommend it, unless you’re curious about all the acclaim.

What are your thoughts on books like this? Do you think readers gain empathy by reading a story full of despair, or do you think we need a little nugget of hope to keep us happy?

Thanks for visiting—come back soon!

Discover more from Book Club Mom

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

53 thoughts on “Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara”

  2. Wow, 832 pages is a long book, Barbara. It got a good acknowledgment and 68,000 reviews. It must get great promotion from the publisher. I don’t know if I could finish a depressing book. You did great.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I’m a reader, but I’ve also got another life. All I read about Hanya Yanagihara’s uncompromising stance to the book being too long and dark, I liked. The book I did not. Not because it was too long or too complicated (although I’m not the brightest) or too dark and full of sexual violence. All true. The other truth was it was boring.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Jack – thank you for reading and commenting. I admit that, while the first 400 pages had me engaged, even when it was dark, I found it difficult to get through the last couple hundred because I thought that part was also repetitive and boring, and relentless in the dark side. Also, I hated the ending.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Hi, Barbara – I remember seeing this book’s cover, but knew nothing about it. I am always looking for atleast some hope when I read a book (or when I engage in anything, actually). Also, I am totally like you in regards to not being able to DNF a book once a start. Must be the Catholic school girl in me! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Donna – thank you for reading and commenting! I’m sorry I’ve been so absent from WP. Although I didn’t go to Catholic school, I was always taught to follow through with whatever I started and that continues to be a part of me. I could definitely loosen up on that in the book department, although I get something out of finishing something long, even if it wasn’t a good experience! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Alethea – I just looked up Perpetual West. I did not know about that one. Did you read her other book, Sugar Run? That one sounds interesting to me. Thanks so much for reading and commenting! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  7. 800+ pages might be a bit much, but I don’t think every book has to have a happy ending. Look at Dr. Zhivago. Life is not always what we would like it to be. Maybe a shorter version of the book would be better?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, I do feel like the book could have been edited down to 400-500 pages. For me, I don’t mind a book with a lot of sadness, but only if there’s a glimmer of hope in it. Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Anneli 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Liz – ah yes, I’m often drawn to books set in NYC because I grew up in north Jersey, however the darkness and the wild successes were not believable. Thank you so much for reading and commenting 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. The Count of Monte Cristo is 1000 to 1500 pages long depending on the edition format. I recently reread it and found it very satisfying, with all the bad people punished and the good people amply rewarded. I will skip “A Little Life”, thank you. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes! That’s what good books are made of. Next time I want to read a long book, I should go back to one of the classics. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting 🙂

      Like

  10. I absolutely hated this book, so I appreciated an unbiased review (my reaction is in the minority). You noted the novel’s good points — the author is talented and can write; the story can be compelling. But …. the whole was a disappointment and, IMO, wildly over rated. I’m fine with unsympathetic characters and dark stories (I read a lot of the classic Russian novelists when I was probably too young to do so!) but Yanagihara just seemed to revel in the suffering to the detriment of everything else in the story. I actually enjoyed the first part of the book, when the friends were setting out on their lives after college, and found the hint of mystery about Jude intriguing. Once the torture/abuse started, however, it was shock after shock after shock, until I really became a little bored with it; it was so excessive that it didn’t advance the story in the slightest. If fact, it struck me as almost akin to torture porn. I was also struck by, as you discussed, the over-the-top success of the group, with money and fame showering down with little effort on their part. In the end, I just put A Little Life in that category of books that elicit wildly different responses from different readers!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Janakay – I agree with everything you say. Once again, I feel duped by the acclaim attached to best-sellers and bitter about being maniuplated by big-time reviewers like NYT and Kirkus. In the past I’ve always found that the Kirkus reviews were bluntly fair, but to select it as its best book? In fairness, the 1-, 2-, and 3-star reviews on Amazon address a lot of what you and I have talked about here. I don’t read those until I’ve finished the book because I want to form my own opinion. Thanks so much for leaving such a thoughtful comment 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Not for me! If you say “this is the darkest and most depressing book I’ve read in a long time”—reason enough to stay away. Besides, at over 800 pages, the book would be too heavy in other ways as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, I agree. I typically don’t research a book before I read it – I’m kind of rogue that way and I pay the price with ones like these. Oh well, on to the next book. Thanks for reading and commenting, Marian 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Unless it’s a true story (The Glass Castle, for instance), I often find that fictional accounts of abuse can be hard going, perhaps because our life experiences are causing us to unconsciously (or not) pick up on the inaccuracies, perhaps. The fact that all of them are so hugely successful would cause me issues as well. I find some authors rely far too much on darkness to achieve notice and success. Unlike you, I’ll stop reading but length doesn’t bother me much.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Lynette – thank you for reading my review and commenting. That’s a great point about authors relying too much on darkness. I agree with you that if it’s a true story, like The Glass Castle, the tough experiences are legitimate. I was also thinking of Night which was so sad, but still I was left with a feeling of hope and resilience. In this book, I felt like the abuse and trauma the main character suffered was not believable because it was just one thing after the next when he was, with no intervention. I’m so stubborn about finishing a book – I should loosen up!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. HI Barbara, it’s lovely to see you pop up with a post. Your question is well timed for me as I was having this exact same mental debate about I book I’ve been reading. The endless misery was just to much for me. Life isn’t like that, there is always some silver among the clouds even if its just a meal with friends – remember the stolen chicken dinner in All Quiet on the Western Front. I won’t read this book.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Robbie – thank you for visiting my blog. I’ve been so busy with life my WP activity has really suffered. I’m hoping to get back in the swing now. 🧡🧡🧡

      Like

  16. This isn’t a book that ever caught my eye, despite all the praise and hype it got. I didn’t know it was this dark, though. Or this long. Now I will certainly not put it on my TBR list! Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Haha – yes I went into it not knowing much. When I opened it on my Kindle and saw that it was a 27-hour read, I had to decide whether or not to take the plunge. Just way too dark to recommend. Not an ounce of hope in it that I could detect. Thanks for the visit 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Jennifer – I agree and the first 400 pages had me totally invested in a long read. But in the end, I felt as if I’d been dragged through a hopeless pit! Definitely going to read something light and fun next!

      Liked by 1 person

      2. Oh yes, that’s a great comparison. I felt like there was a lot of hope in that book. Also one of my favorite recent reads. Hope you are doing well, Jennifer. I’ve been absent from WP for a bit and trying to get on more regularly.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I hope you haven’t been absent for any sad reasons. I’ve had some health problems for the past few months (nothing too too serious) but I’m trying lately to blog a bit more than I was. I don’t think I’ll ever blog as often as I used to, though.

        Liked by 1 person

  20. I’m an outlier here, but I was completely taken in by this novel when I read it in 2016. My review:

    This story wreaked havoc with my emotions unlike any other I have read in a long time, if ever.
    Devastating and harrowing, yet still beautiful in its depiction of a friendship that transcends even the strongest of bonds.
    This book consumed me.

    Ironically, I agree with your criticisms, but the writing of Hanya Yanagihara just cast a spell on me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Kaleigh – thanks so much for reading and commenting here. Reading is so subjective, isn’t it? My emotions were all over the place. I agree that here writing was beautiful. Have you read her latest book? I’m curious about it.

      Like

      1. I actually have both of her other novels, To Paradise and The People in the Trees, but I have not read them yet. When I read a novel I love, I often immediately buy other works from the same author!

        Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.