A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

[MrBigTiger]

Fucking hell. Has anyone read this?

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

Aaaaarrrggghhh. 😭

I wondered why his "disease" was never named. I assumed it was HIV (possibly hep C) but it was always sort of glossed over, which was strange because nothing else was!
Anyway, I really liked it and have recommended it to others with the warning that it is traumatic to read. But at the same time, I will never read it again.
I agree with PP that the characters have stayed with me for years just like Mariam from Thousand Splendid Suns. I sometimes wonder what happened to them after the end of the book.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

It could perhaps be read as a punishment?!

That said, I think we're extremely naïve and privileged to find a life of repetitive advise implausible. It is unfortunately completely plausible.

Less plausible: the endless descriptions of food and decor as if they were synonymous with beauty and healing.

The JP character (I think) was very strong. She should do more of that.

Instead I think she got deeper into abuse literature-no idea how she functions.

I read it a while ago. I thought it was a bit too unrelenting and overwritten, to the extent it became unrealistic. Hasn't stayed with me at all.

As a study of grief, the breakdown of normal life, and the abuse and neglect of children, 'The Discomfort of Evening' is a better written book (and IMO much more disturbing than A Little Life). We are shown, not told about, the disintegration of a family. I'm not sure I would recommend it to people as there is some disturbing graphic content ...

@Chachasha

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

It could perhaps be read as a punishment?!

That said, I think we're extremely naïve and privileged to find a life of repetitive advise implausible. It is unfortunately completely plausible.

Less plausible: the endless descriptions of food and decor as if they were synonymous with beauty and healing.

The JP character (I think) was very strong. She should do more of that.

Instead I think she got deeper into abuse literature-no idea how she functions.

I don’t think anyone is disputing that a life of repeated abuse is implausible, but the specific details of Jude’s — an early life of traumatic institutional sexual and psychological abuse, and enforced child prostitution, leading to a life of effortless success as a top lawyer of incredible beauty and charisma surrounded by equally successful friends, all of whom utterly adore him apart from one abusive boyfriend, while enduring chronic pain, continual self-harm, abusive boyfriends, rapes, being thrown down the stairs, double amputation, unsuccessful suicide attempt, followed by bereavement and finally a successful suicide — reads more like ‘Let’s see what else I can pile onto this increasingly unbelievable Uber-victim!’

And there’s a real ethical issue for me in the way the author dangles the prospect of the grotesque details of Jude’s childhood abuse in front of the reader for most of the novel, like a kind of McGuffin for which we keep reading.

I've just read the synopsis on Wiki and there is no way I could put myself through this. The way some posters are describing how they felt after reading it remind me of how I felt when I read Jude the Obscure 25 years ago. Is it just a coincidence that the main character is also called Jude?

@drainitallout, it makes Jude the Obscure read like a laugh-a-minute slapstick comedy! ‘Done because we were too menny’ is easily cheerier than about 90% of A Little Life.

It was definitely an intense read, but a couple of years on from reading it, I think more of the love and affection between the characters than the abject horrors.

OP if you need a palette cleanser to uplift you and restore your faith in humanity, try A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The central character finds joy in his life whatever his circumstances and holds no grudges. His outlook is lovely.

And there’s a real ethical issue for me in the way the author dangles the prospect of the grotesque details of Jude’s childhood abuse in front of the reader for most of the novel, like a kind of McGuffin for which we keep reading.

Yes agreed. The only thing I'd say is that it echoes the nature of trauma, where the thing unlooked at dominates. But yes.

I don't fully accept your summary of the book. I think it's skewed slightly to make it sound more extreme.

Some real lives so read like a catalogue of disasters as abuse so often begets abuse. That's why people sometimes come to the false belief that they must deserve it because what were the chances of it happening to them again. And Jude does seem like a sadist's dream. The scholarship and the successful career I can buy because there's no reason why he couldn't have a razor sharp intellect. Damaged people can be extremely driven to succeed and survive. But ultimately this book does not have to be real life plausible to be worthwhile or successful as fiction, as we all know about fiction generally. It seems to have failed for you on other grounds and the implausibly was then a bigger problem.

I like it that his friends cared so much about him. They were imperfect friends, though. Their love was flawed and there were jealousies, hurtful comments and distancing. It wasn't particularly idealised in many ways, imo.

I listened on audiobook. Really like it, cried buckets. Not sure if I'd ever have found the time to actually read it. It's a big book.

I couldn’t put this book down and felt bereft when I’d finished it.

My main criticism of the book is how incredibly successful all of the characters are in their fields. A bit unlikely.

I saw an interview with the author and she said she wanted to write a book about someone who never got better, which is unique when I think about it.

Definitely not for the faint hearted but it will stay with me for a long time.

Bearsbearsbears40 I totally agree re Shuggie Bain. What a character and what a book!

This was one of the very few books where I just gave up reading before the end, and I hardly ever do that. It wasn't just the relentlessness of the misery, it was the sameness of it all to the point that when I picked it up again I couldn't remember where I had got to because every part of the book was like every other part of the book.

If you compare it to, for example A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - that's a book which could also be accused of heaping misery upon its characters, but in terms of tone I think A Fine Balance much more varied and therefore much more readable, with more of a heart.

I've stopped twice now and don't think I can finish. I'm not particularly sensitive but I'm just finding it too depressing. I think I'm about half way.

I think A Fine Balance is a great comparator. That’s a fantastic book, and from memory the title refers to something one of the characters says about “a fine balance between hope and despair” - needing to find hope in the face of suffering. Which is exactly the balance that wasn’t there in A Little Life, that one was all despair!

Maybe, except the friendship was the hope?

@Level75

I've stopped twice now and don't think I can finish. I'm not particularly sensitive but I'm just finding it too depressing. I think I'm about half way.

I won’t lie to you and say that you’re anywhere near halfway though the horrors this novel likes to heap on its readers.

I second what Corbally said.
It gets worse, a lot worse.

@TheTurn0fTheScrew

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.

Exactly this. I read it a couple of years ago after being on holiday with a group of friends who had all read it and raved about it. I enjoyed it for a bit but then it just got increasingly ridiculous and pointless. Now I can't even remember much of what it was about.

Very interesting piece here: www.vulture.com/article/hanya-yanagihara-review.html

@Hoolihan that’s a really interesting piece in The Vulture. Thank you for the link. To Paradise has had such brilliant reviews that I was beginning to think I was going to have to read it in spite of my loathing for ALL. But it sounds like it’s just as sentimental and over the top. What is it that makes the critics admire her so?

Sorry I know this is an old thread, but I've just finished reading the book so needed to post.
For me it's not so much that the endless misery was bad, but more that the other elements of his grown up life were too perfect. The friends too talented etc. If anyone gives a present in this book it will not be a re-gifted box of shortbread and a card from a shop - it's just guaranteed to be a meaningful thing like a painting they've done or a song they've recorded or something beautiful and meaningful. And if someone cooks something it will be grilled hake with lemon and rye bread. If someone decorates their house they have an architect friend to help them. No-one ever just does a half-hearted job of something, and then gets a pasty (unless they are in some sort of crisis maybe - but not just as part of normal life).
And yes, no-one has children - not really. Jude has a long list of friends (and they keep getting listed... they visit him in order when he wakes from his attempted suicide, they appear one by one at gallery events etc etc), and they are always available for Friday dinners etc. No-one is ever just too busy for Jude like they would be in real life... rather they all just love him and want to help him but don't know how because he is so troubled. And yes - the dialogue always starting 'Oh Jude... ' is exactly right. (And if we filled in those dots, it would always be 'you have no idea how wonderful you are' or similar).
I reckon part of the appeal is a kind of escapsim/inspiration, despite all the misery. We all want to be coaxed into coming out to dinner at an expensive sushi place by the friends that adore us because we are so intelligent and beautiful. The reality is that you have to slam dinner into the oven quickly before taking your kids to scouts. That sort of thing is a world away from this book. So it just didn't read as very real to me.

badger2005
I completely agree with you... all his friends have stellar-level careers and no one has kids!!

Another thing I noticed about this book is that there is no humour in it.
None whatsoever.

That said, I could not put this book down. I found it astonishing.
It consumed me and the characters stayed with me for a long time.

It would seem strange to say that I loved it because of the subject matter but it's definitely one of the best books I've read.

MonkeyTennis34
Oh yes good point, you are right... no humour! And yet weirdly a couple of time the author says '... after they all stopped laughing', but what's said hasn't been that funny. It conjures up an image of a bunch of incredibly talented people having a dinner party and being very witty with lots of in-jokes, but I don't see no jokes.
And also I agree, I couldn't put it down either. I was deeply into the world of it. That's why I posted this today - I've just finished it but am not ready to let it go!

badger2005
Are you planning to read her next book, To Paradise?

It's huge, divided into 4 sections. Much less conventional in content.
I enjoyed it but it was nothing like ALL.