Reviews

Der Roman ist objektiv und stilistisch gesehen sehr gut, keine Frage. Die Entwicklung der Charaktere wird über mehrere Jahrzehnte detailliert abgebildet und aus 3 verschiedenen Perspektiven erzählt. Das Geheimnis um Judes Vergangenheit erzeugt Spannung und die Aufklärung der traumatischen Ereignisse lässt einen überwältigt und sprachlos zurück. Trotz all dieser Dinge konnte mich der Roman leider nicht gänzlich überzeugen.
Die Komplexität und das Ausmaß der Traumatisierung sind für den Lesenden zwar kaum vorstellbar krass, aber dennoch nicht übertrieben. Der Umgang damit und auch Judes Entwicklung erscheint mir allerdings wenig realistisch. An manchen Stellen hatte ich das Gefühl, dass der Autorin nicht ganz klar ist, was eine posttraumatische Belastungsstörung ist (deren Symptome eindeutig erfüllt werden), denn Andy sagt an einer Stelle, Jude sei nicht psychisch krank, denn es gebe kein biochemisches Ungleichgewicht in seinem Gehirn. Das ergibt allerdings gar keinen Sinn, da dies erstens nicht das Kriterium ist und zweitens realistisch gesehen, höchstwahrscheinlich vorliegen würde.
Außerdem war der Roman in meinen Augen zu lang und hat sich besonders ab der zweiten Hälfte zu stark gezogen und wiederholt, sodass ich allmählich das Interesse verloren habe.

sandraandthecity's review against another edition

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4.0

One of the most difficult, depressing, and harrowing books I have ever read. It’s well written but it could’ve been shortened by 200 pages and been even better. If you are expecting any relief from this book, don’t. It is relentless in its grief, anger, and shock. I felt quite shaken after I put it down, I didn’t cry, but it disturbed me. I felt like I needed air. It did dredge up some very strong, sad emotions from me because some of the moments (mainly relating to death and loss) I have gone through and found very difficult to process once this book had reawakened them.

This story of four friends is unforgettable, beautifully written, and gripping. I had to know how the story ended, and could not put this book down in places, but...it is torturous and emotionally draining to read. I do not say this lightly, I felt the wind knocked out of me each time I put it down. It is something I could not go through reading again - mentally, it’s too much.

One comment here is that while this story obviously centres on Jude, it is pushed as a story of four people, four close friends. I felt like it was the story of Willem and Jude and that JB may have played a “supporting actor” role but Malcolm was really all but non-existent. He felt like a prop that was thrown in every so often when Yanagihara remembered, “Oh shit! There are FOUR main characters, not two!” I feel like Malcolm’s death was a convenient way to not have to deal with him being in the background for another 100 pages. It was plain to me his character was the least developed or interesting, and I was left wondering why he was in the book at all.

So did I “enjoy” it? Can I recommend it? Enjoy would not be the word. It’s not remotely enjoyable in the sense of sitting down to read a great book - it’s engrossing but only because it’s content is so horrifying, so utterly over the top, and so unbelievable in places, that you are glued to the page trying to see how it will all end. I can recommend it only because it is definitely a “page turner” (although the first 200 pages were really slow for me), and well written.

The content is deeply disturbing and upsetting, but it is meant to be. It’s meant to unsettle you and keep you up at night - it is an incredibly visceral book. Part of me can respect that angle, and the desire to provoke a response but, I can also understand why some readers hated it and call it “torture porn”. Sometimes, it feels like Yanagihara puts in certain scenes for the sake of shock value, ‘let’s see how far we can go in the realm of believability’, ‘let’s see how far I can go before the reader throws down the book in disgust or in tears.’ At times, I did roll my eyes and think, ‘of course that happened, it’s so horrible, why wouldn’t she put it in?’. You are trained early on in this book not to expect anything good to last and to brace for the worst. I just felt like at points all I was doing was bracing with little to no relief. It was anxiety inducing at times.

My final verdict is mixed, very polarizing. It’s a great book, she is a good writer (albeit one in need of an editor), and she knows how to keep the audience hooked. It’s horrible, sad, and haunting. It will stay with you, and I doubt many people could sit through reading it twice. I have never read something that was this good, but also that I never wanted to read again. A well written, horrific book.

sofiawallgren's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

How does one even talk about this book?

I liked this, a lot.

The characters were so wonderful and fleshed out, and felt like real people, in every way.

However, I did sometimes think that it was too sad? Like it felt unnecessary at times, yet nothing felt wrong?

I just have a lot of feelings about this book, and about the experience of reading this.

Tears were spilled, and feelings were felt, is all I can say.

Would recommend this, but read all the triggers and all of that, because this book is not happy or easy in any way.

Despite this being long, slow, and character-driven, I never got bored, so don't be scared of this because of these reasons, because Yanagihara writes this book and tells this story so excellently that it feels less tough.

kafuisakyiaddo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thoughts on a little life: what a gift it is to grow old. to realize new hobbies and passions and loves. to appreciate your body more and more with how painstakingly it tries, and how frustrating when it falls short.

Spoiler

update I wrote this before I read the last 100 pages fuck me

Content Warnings