A Little Life in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 22, 2016 Kaley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, bookclub-possibilities, 2016

It took me almost a year to read, as I had to keep taking breaks... breaks from the heartbreak, the pain, the sorrow. But I am so glad I stuck with it; I absolutely loved it. Beautiful, emotional, heart-wrenching, unbearable... but ultimately, beautiful.

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Sep 19, 2015 Gabriella rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: queer-lit

This was a long book that started out as a paean to friendship (four young men in NYC and their apparently unshakable bonds) and ended up being, to my mind, a story that suggests that the main character, Jude, has been so brutally damaged that only a perfect, devoted love will save him. Which he gets for a while. It takes a long time for Willem and Jude to transition from friendship to love, but it is definitely the carrot that draws the reader through this difficult book.

I was impressed that th This was a long book that started out as a paean to friendship (four young men in NYC and their apparently unshakable bonds) and ended up being, to my mind, a story that suggests that the main character, Jude, has been so brutally damaged that only a perfect, devoted love will save him. Which he gets for a while. It takes a long time for Willem and Jude to transition from friendship to love, but it is definitely the carrot that draws the reader through this difficult book.

I was impressed that the cover image is a photo by Peter Hujar called "Orgasmic Man." That made me trust Yanagihara right there, that she is coming from a place where she understands art and queer history. (The image at first glance seems to be of a man in pain, but in fact, of course, he's in what is supposed to be a moment of bliss.) While the book isn't very "political," in fact is set in a cleverly nondescript present over the course of thirty years, the details of Jude's sexual abuse and subsequent anguish/low self-esteem/cutting are piercing and true. Another irony: he isn't able to enjoy sex and he never does, even with the one person he adores. He cuts himself frequently and is unable to open up about his past. The last part of the book is tragic because the one person who he's revealed himself to has died and he simply can't open up to anyone else, even long-standing friends and mentors.

This sprawling book isn't perfect--there is a scene (an excellent scene) where Jude rounds on JB at an art gallery and bawls him out for having done something stupid. And we never see them making up but the narrative has them going out to dinner and meeting again soon after. I'm thinking that the quarrel scene in the gallery was put in later. It's also never quite explained how Jude is saved after his first brutal injury.

The book takes Jude on an arc from self-possessed young lawyer to lonely, suicidal guy, to the happy years with Willem where he is as together as he's going to be, and then, after the dreadful loss, he falls apart and becomes childlike and feral, slowly disappearing. But by then I had experienced so much of his past that I understand his ultimate decision very well.

It would be nice if friends could always be saviors; I'm sure there are people who rely on their friends to get by after wretched pasts. But this engrossing novel does jibe with my own experience that being loved, at a deeper level of intimacy, is necessary for survival. I liked the progressive attitude towards sexuality in this book, the sophisticated understanding of sexual fluidity. But I do think A Little Life has a fairly traditional message at heart.

Yanagihara has said that she tried to make the novel as generous as possible in the sense that the reader can really feel intimacy with the characters. She has succeeded marvelously in this. I read it over two days and felt pulled immediately into the characters' world. It was a little hard to transition back to my world! Would not surprise me if this wins the Booker--but read it anyway. A book like this doesn't come along every day. ...more

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May 17, 2016 Andy Plonka rated it it was ok

I generally like character driven novels and this certainly fills the bill, but I found out way more than I needed or wanted to know about Jude. It would be a good discussion book for a book club as the interaction between the four major characters lends itself to thoughts of motivation, effects of childhood experiences on the major players etc. I think the book could have benefited from some serious editing. I felt like I had been beaten with a baseball bat after hearing for the umpteenth time ...more

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