Hanya Yanagihara | A LITTLE LIFE

Plot (via Goodreads):

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

Review:

Phew.

There is a reason that people call A Little Life the great American gay novel. This story is one hell of an odyssey that follows four friends throughout decades of their lives and it is emotional, gripping, and harrowing. I love Jude and I love Willem. I hated JB and I thought Malcolm was likable but not around enough. You know what? That's what life is like. I loved this story and I love the characters that Yanagihara focused on and how they were perfect because I loved them, but flawed to keep them realistic. This story just brought out so many emotions and built a huge book called A Little Life.

This novel is beautiful and gritty at the same time. Some moments I was laughing, some I was crying, some I was skipping over things because they made me queasy and on the verge of hyperventilating. There are a plethora of trigger warnings with this book, but the places that these characters go is just fantastic. If you ask me what novel will stick with me for years and years if not my entire life? It's this one. Will I ever read it again? Maybe. If I can take it. This novel made me so uncomfortable at so many times and angry and hurt and other times, I was flying high in a hazy bubble gum dream.

A Little Life gave me what is probably the worst book hangover of my life. I am a thriller/suspense lover and rarely step out of the crime fiction world. I did once with Call Me by Your Name and I cried for hours. A Little Life left me depressed for about a week. This book will take you so many places and it is such a pleasure to read a book that represents gay men without cliches or gimmicks, but just straight up phenomenal literary characters who go through hell and back. This is a novel that should be on everyone's nightstand.

Rating: 5/5