A Little Life in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Dec 21, 2015 Sharlene rated it it was amazing

Shelves: diversiverse, library, 2015

Are you still thinking of reading A Little Life?

Have you seen the book on all those ‘best of 2015’ lists that are everywhere, on blogs, news sites, bookish sites?

Have you picked it up at the bookstore or library then almost drop it on your foot because it’s such an immense book?

Have you seen one of those A Little Life tote bags and wondered what it was talking about?

Did you adore Hanya Yanagihara’s The People in the Trees and wonder if you would adore this book of hers?

Have you hovered your mous Are you still thinking of reading A Little Life?

Have you seen the book on all those ‘best of 2015’ lists that are everywhere, on blogs, news sites, bookish sites?

Have you picked it up at the bookstore or library then almost drop it on your foot because it’s such an immense book?

Have you seen one of those A Little Life tote bags and wondered what it was talking about?

Did you adore Hanya Yanagihara’s The People in the Trees and wonder if you would adore this book of hers?

Have you hovered your mouse button over it but haven’t quite mustered the courage to click ‘buy’ or ‘borrow’ yet?

Well, I did all that. I hemmed and I hawed for months. I was concerned about the hype and the heft and the heaviness.

But then as the end of 2015 loomed, I jumped. I borrowed the book. All 720 pages of it. I didn’t go for the e-book version as I usually do when it comes to books of late. It seemed to call out for an actual printed, physical book. A book that would sit on my lap and have pages to turn. A book that would sit on my kitchen table and require bookmarks, or a cellphone to hold the page down. A book that wouldn’t fit into my bag and that would take up a corner of my side table.

I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to finish it, as I tend to read printed books slower than the rate I read ebooks at. But once I began, and once I began to understand, I fell into it, I sank in and just wallowed in it, ingesting it, but also sipping at it, not wanting to leave it. Yet at the same time, wanting to leave Jude and his friends. This is a book that just consumes you. It is a book that takes you in and chews you up. Jude’s story frustrates and overwhelms at times, but you just want to keep going, to stay in his circle of friends, to stay in his life, to stay in his crappy apartment on Lispenard Street, to feast your eyes on all those gougères that Jude makes, and wonder at his walnut cake, to wander among JB’s artworks, to marvel at Malcolm’s plans, to watch Willem’s plays and movies (especially that one in the dilapidated brownstone where he peels the wallpaper).

There is so much pain and hurt in this book. It made me tear up and it made me blurt out this weird strangled sound that I was glad no one was close by enough to hear, as I think it may have worried the kids. And yes, there were parts that were overwritten, and yes, it is an incredibly difficult book to write a post about without giving too much of the story away, if you didn’t already know what it’s about. But it is a book that makes you feel. It is a book that makes me glad that I am a reader, and that I have a book like this to read, and that a book, these words and sentences and paragraphs and pages that make up a book, can squeeze my heart so and catch my breath so and make my stomach flippity-flop so.

And there it is. A Little Life. A beautiful book. A frustrating book. A much-talked-about book. A ‘best of’ book. A Jude-Willem-Malcolm-JB book. (Also a Harold-Julia-Andy-Richard book). A book that requires patience and time – and space on the shelf for it is a large book. Should you read it? Yes yes yes.

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Jan 17, 2019 Lynn rated it liked it

Shelves: south-shore-readers-2019-challenge, read-completed

This was challenging for me. There were times when I was so fascinated I couldn't stop. Other times I wanted to put the book in the freezer for a good long time. It left me emotionally exhausted, but will stay with me for a long time. ...more

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Oct 14, 2015 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recentfiction, fiction, favorites, read-this-book-again

I am only forty pages into this 700 page book, but I am already hooked. Who is this writer. How did she learn how to weave so many stories together so brilliantly. I love this. I did find that at first I needed to take notes. I couldn't keep the four main characters (let alone the extras) straight. I think I'm good now. Note taking can cease. If I have to start again, it's fine. The writing is brilliant--textured, honest, beautiful, poignant, the kind of writing I'd like to make.

Parts of this st ...more

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Nov 11, 2023 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-read-own

My goodness! This epic story of four college friends follows their lives and experiences both before and after they met. The writing it amazing, the author has plotted the book in a unique way that keeps you reading, even when encountering some of the most difficult story lines I’ve ever read. This is a heartbreaker of a book, proceed with caution. I will be thinking about these characters for a long time.

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