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A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

105 replies

MrBigTiger · 16/12/2021 20:03

Fucking hell. Has anyone read this?

I haven't been so distraught at the end of a book since reading One Day.

Aaaaarrrggghhh. 😭

OP posts:
Hoolihan · 16/12/2021 20:06

I am evangelical in my hatred of this book. Utterly disgusting misery porn, abysmal characters, ludicrous story arch and atrocious dialogue.

Jota67 · 16/12/2021 20:08

It was a really tough read. I read it on holiday in October and was crying by the pool. So cruel

Original poster
MrBigTiger · 16/12/2021 20:11

@Hoolihan

I am evangelical in my hatred of this book. Utterly disgusting misery porn, abysmal characters, ludicrous story arch and atrocious dialogue.

I haven't processed it yet. I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed it at all.

It's certainly the most miserable book I've ever read. Why would someone write something so horrible?

OP posts:
BlameItOnTheBlackStar · 16/12/2021 20:11

Oh I LOVED this book. It was the first book for years that utterly drew me into its own world, I couldn't look up from it.

Original poster
MrBigTiger · 16/12/2021 20:13

I feel like I now need to watch something trashy and atrocious to cleanse my brain from the misery. Human Centipede might do the trick.

OP posts:
Birdkin · 16/12/2021 20:14

I cried SO MUCH. My friend made the mistake of reading it on a plane

Ticksallboxes · 16/12/2021 20:20

I remember a year or so ago this was reccomended in many article's end of year best books lists. It was described as dark and not for everyone so I flinched and read the Wikipedia plot synopsis instead. Suffice to say I avoided it!!

Original poster
MrBigTiger · 16/12/2021 20:25

@Ticksallboxes

I remember a year or so ago this was reccomended in many article's end of year best books lists. It was described as dark and not for everyone so I flinched and read the Wikipedia plot synopsis instead. Suffice to say I avoided it!!

I kind of wish I'd read the Wikipedia beforehand- I don't think I'd have read it either!

What the fuck is wrong with this author? The ending is absolutely horrible!

OP posts:
Marylou62 · 16/12/2021 20:25

Totally torn... What a beautifully written book, what beautiful friendships but how utterly, devastatingly sad... I want to recommend it to others because of how much all the main characters love and care for Jude, but I can't make them as sad as I was... Took me ages to pull myself together after the devastating ending... But I'm glad I read it.. Jude will always be a character I remember.. Like Mariam in A Thousand Splendid Suns...

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 16/12/2021 20:26

I didn't like it.
there was so very much trauma and abuse that ultimately I became desensitised to it. It almost felt cartoonish in its excess, like Tom and Jerry violence by the end.

Tiredhungrybored · 16/12/2021 20:27

@Hoolihan

I am evangelical in my hatred of this book. Utterly disgusting misery porn, abysmal characters, ludicrous story arch and atrocious dialogue.
Exact same!!!!
Hoolihan · 16/12/2021 20:28

@MrBigTiger it took me a while to process too. It's definitely a page turner and I read it really fast, but that's the only good thing I have to say about it. I wish I could scrub it from my brain. Some of the images are just so abhorrent and I felt the writer was almost gleefully recounting these appalling situations. Exploitative, voyeuristic and ridiculous. Fucking GRIM!

LizzoBorden · 16/12/2021 20:28

Loathed it. Misery porn is exactly the description.

Hoolihan · 16/12/2021 20:30

Also about 50% of the dialogue begins "oh Jude..." so how anyone can think it's well written is beyond me.

suckingonyulelogs · 16/12/2021 20:33

Definitely not one to read if you're feeling a bit low! It did get ridiculous in the end, how many more tragedies can you hit someone with?

TinaYouFatLard · 16/12/2021 20:35

I don’t have the words to describe how much I loathed this book. I can’t believe I managed to get to the end.

SockFluffInTheBath · 16/12/2021 20:36

@MrBigTiger

I feel like I now need to watch something trashy and atrocious to cleanse my brain from the misery. Human Centipede might do the trick.
Not funny but so true.

I hate that book. I wish I hadn’t read it. I finished it desperately hoping for a happy ending and it broke my heart. It was relentlessly horrific and I burned it. I didn’t want to give it to the charity shop or risk my teen DC picking it off the shelf.

VaguelyInteresting · 16/12/2021 20:39

It’s a really hard read, but I think as much misery and pain as there is in the book, it’s possibly unique in its focus on male friendships and different types of love (platonic, fatherly and romantic) between men.

I read it about 18 months ago and although I have a dim recollection of the scenes of abuse and horror (and a stronger memory of recoiling, physically, from the pages at times) what I remember far more clearly are the characters and scenes that demonstrate love and friendship.

It’s also worth remembering that it deliberately embraces tropes of melodrama. It sort of put me in mind of Pedro Almodovars films - except darker by a significant stretch.

Ticksallboxes · 16/12/2021 20:41

@MrBigTiger recently I've tended to devour end of year lists by checking the plot synopses on Wikipedia. Some do seem so great that I go on to read them.

Graham Swift's Here We Are is now my favourite and its precursor, Mothering Sunday, has just been released as a film as is IMO the best ever adaptation of a novel!

Corbally · 16/12/2021 20:42

@Hoolihan

I am evangelical in my hatred of this book. Utterly disgusting misery porn, abysmal characters, ludicrous story arch and atrocious dialogue.
I join you in your evangelism. I thought it was going to be a study of friendships, but it was as if Yanagihara had set herself the challenge of heaping as many horrors as possible on this one hapless character. I particularly disliked the way in which the narrative trailed the prospect of the exact details of the child abuse like a prize for the reader to keep reading for. It is disgusting misery porn.
Plump82 · 16/12/2021 20:43

I absolutely hated this book. I can't even remember much about it but can't remember how much I loathed it. The only thing I quite liked was recognising the areas in New York I knew.

Bearsbearsbears40 · 16/12/2021 20:43

I thought about Jude a lot after reading this book, he stuck with me much more than most other fictional characters. The other character to stay with me as much recently was Shuggie Bain ☹️

garlictwist · 16/12/2021 20:46

I read this in one sitting last New Year's Day (I started very early in the morning and finished very late!) It had its flaws and some of the characters were hard to like but I did find it gripping.

birdglasspen · 16/12/2021 20:53

Has anyone read her other book? Can’t remember the name, a turtle on the front? Now that is one bizarre book. I liked the relationships between the friends in Little Life and yes it was sad but so are many books? I felt a bit lost when I’d finished as I cared about the characters not many books engross me so much might stop recommending it though now I see how many people feel differently!

Nomicron · 16/12/2021 20:56

I think I’m fairly unique in having put myself through this book twice.
I think I have an insecure attachment to it as I’m so drawn to it whilst knowing how horrific it is. I will probably read it again at some point and still hope for a happy ending