A little life

12 replies

Storminateacup74 · 28/12/2018 20:36

I have just started A little life after my mum and auntie telling me it amazing. Only on page 65 but can't really get into it. I know you are probably not supposed to warm to the character's but it just seems really boring and i dont want to waste time on 700+ pages if it isn't going to have me gripped. Opinions please. Thank you

OP posts:

Kilash · 29/12/2018 13:15

I loved it, but I think it's very much a 'marmite' book - love or hate. It's pretty harrowing - I would guess at 65 pages in you have not scratched the surface so give it a bit of time wold be my advice.

lastqueenofscotland · 31/12/2018 08:04

I loved it but I clicked with it at about 100/120 pages in? I’m a fast reader so that would have been about and hour and a half for me.

Theaspidistraiswilting · 31/12/2018 08:11

Horrible, miserable book I wish I had never read. It has stayed with me (and I forget most of the things I read these days!) so it must have made an impression - it won’t go away and sucks a little bit of joy out of my life every time I think about it. I think someone described it as misery porn and I think that is a pretty good description. I hated it so much I am quite tempted to tell you what happens in the end!

Oorwulliesbucket · 31/12/2018 21:06

I hated it as well, was just so relentlessly miserable.

Original poster

Storminateacup74 · 06/01/2019 14:28

250 pages in and although it is miserable and depressing I am getting on with it well. There are some bits that are boring and tedious but the ways the author captures the lives of these four men is amazing she writes as if she knows them. My mum was totally moved by the whole book and put it as her top book of all time - I wouldn't say it is the best book I have read but I am glad I didn't give up

OP posts:

partystress · 06/01/2019 14:39

It's one that has really stuck with me. Took me ages to get into it, but it it had been highly recommended by two completely different friends, so I persevered. Wept buckets when it ended - just the grief of not being with the characters any longer.

frompampastobroadway · 08/01/2019 15:14

Just this minute finished it and very glad I set aside time to be alone for the last 50 pages. It is utterly relentless and I'm very relieved to have finished it but very glad I read it too. The friendships were just beautiful, that's my positive take on it. The self loathing so understandable. Hard book to read...

HowardSpring · 10/01/2019 12:17

I also loved it - yet found it a difficult read. It has stayed with me too. I felt I gained an understanding of something in life by reading this so it was valuable.

Ragwort · 10/01/2019 12:21

I loved it too but I was able to read it on holiday which probably helped as I had enough time to really get into it. We read it at our Book Club and I was the only one who liked it. Loved the style of writing & the depth of the characters.

bookworm14 · 10/01/2019 22:11

Ghastly torture porn soap opera. Its popularity is baffling.

SavageBeauty73 · 10/01/2019 22:12

I loved it. It's a marmite book.

thehorseandhisboy · 12/01/2019 20:59

I've just finished it. I skim read the last part as I was utterly bored of how unstructureless it was. I found it really odd in many ways. The author spent ages alluding to Jude's sexual abuse at monastery (and that's all authors have to do really, as in popular culture not since 'The Sound of Music' have children entered a monastery and not been abused) then decided to go on to describe other abuse in great, lengthly, repetitive detail. Some of the characterisation and themes of friendship were good, but I thought that it could have done with some serious editing and tightening up, and a bit more psychological coherence. It got really bored by the time Jude was spending his life completely off his face whilst still allegedly being a top-notch litigator at a NY firm.

Don't feel inspired to see what else the author has written.

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