Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - A Little Life

Overview 📚

While this is not a book you pick up entirely willingly; it is one you read and becomes a part of you—literally it’s been months and my heart still hurts for Jude. I mainly picked up Hanya Yanagihara’s “A Little Life” simply for the controversy that took place some years ago when it started gaining popularity on TikTok. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect except that many considered it nothing but senseless “trauma-porn,” but that isn’t really the case at all. A Little Life follows the lives of four college friends Willem, JB, Malcolm, and with a primary focus on Jude St. Francis, an attorney with a tragic past, with a narrative that delves into the significance of friendships, the effects of trauma, and the search for identity and purpose in the face of immense suffering. This book set out what was promised. It was intense, unvarnished, horrifying, and devastating in the best possible ways. It took me a while to finish this book because of the triggering content, but I still really enjoyed it. I did not anticipate experiencing this much agony or ugly sobbing. Even the characters I detested, I adored for how ravishingly raw they were portrayed.

Plot 🎬

The plot, I wouldn’t say was anything unique. It’s about college friends trying to make it in the big city with an insane amount of trauma, but Yanagihara’s writing, her way of describing the utter pain of these characters, has a gorgeous charm to it. For the most part, being human, we have an innate morbid curiosity seeking out the broken, the deepest darkest evils this world could conjure. No matter how difficult it was for me to read through all of that or how harsh the narrative got, I was drawn in and didn’t want to stop until I was one with the words. It is in itself another experience to live through, that one cannot simply back away.

Dialogue, Pacing, and Structure 💬

Overall, I had no issue with the pacing, dialogue, or structure from a technical point of view. The dialogue was nothing particularly grand but I partially read this through an audio book and the narrator had done such a wonderful job and portrayed Jude so delicately. I loved it. If anyone is interested here is the link to her channel; http://www.youtube.com/@celinabastida.... I know some people criticize this book for its extremely long paragraphs but I believe that is the point to draw out these events and it doesn’t necessarily have to break off to be able to show the present and the past. It is a sheer reflection of personhood where time doesn’t pause; everything can and may occur all at once, calamitous or harmless. There are no page breaks in life, and sometimes it takes an effort to hit head-on and hold up.

Personal Impact & Final thoughts… 🤔💭💀

I really have connected with these characters, particularly Jude and his story. It is such a tragedy. And even though this is a work of fiction, the ideas are not. This is a reality for many and no matter how scary, utterly appalling, and painful, stories like this, fiction or not, should be told.
This is not a read just for anyone though, it is a lot of heavy themes and topics regarding around the trauma of child abuse, sexual abuse/assault, self harm and much much more that are written in great detail. So please, if you find topics sensitive I wouldn’t really recommend this book. But if you believe you are strong enough I would really recommend checking this out. It is beautifully crafted and will stay with you whether you want it to or not.

Content Warnings

luciejzql's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

J’ai reposé et recommencé trois fois le livre parce que je n’arrivais pas à dépasser la 2eme partie.
Pendant la première moitié du livre, j’ai été complètement emportée par l’histoire de ces personnages, par leur manière de fonctionner ensemble et seuls, et intriguée par Jude et son passé. Et puis au milieu du livre, après quelque premiers récits d’horreurs, j’ai compris que le reste du roman irait de mal en pis. C’est tellement complaisant dans la douleur, dans la souffrance, dans l’incapacité à changer que ça en devient gerbant. Jude m’a été insupportable dans le dernier tiers et j’avais hâte de finir le livre pour enfin pouvoir passer à autre chose.

Content Warnings

yeldah_reedz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I want to start by saying that I would genuinely never recommend this book to anyone. Since everyone reacts to trauma in different ways I don’t want to be responsible for the way someone reacts while reading this book. A Little Life is a beautifully told story following a group of four best friends and their lives after college. I don’t want to say much more about the story since I believe it would be better to just jump in with little to no expectations. However, if you are planning to dive into this long story (over 800 pages), I will ask that you look up and read all the trigger warnings before opening the cover to the first page.
I can fully say that some parts of this book were the most disturbing and disgusting things I have ever read and made me feel physically ill. There were points in the book where I had to set it down for a bit and take a break before continuing. Even though so much of this book is deeply tragic, it keeps the reader hoping for more and wishing for all the pain and suffering to end for some of the characters. There were happier parts and I did end up laughing while my eyes scanned through some of my favorite parts. The end of the book was bittersweet, tender and felt gratifying despite everything else that happened. The title means more after you read the whole book and the axiom of equality lives in my heart now. Sometimes you expect x from a book, but end up getting x. This book shows how x=x outside of mathematics. Hanya Yanagihara has written an exquisite story that tugs on the readers heartstrings in many more ways than expected. I see this story in the world around me and it feels like I have a fresh brain but in an older and wiser way. I’m not sure what else to say about this book since it left me nearly speechless the moment it ended.
I would just say, read it with caution and don’t read it when you’re in any kind of bad mood since the subjects it contains are quite dark/heavy.
Woop! Woop! Tragic books for the win, am I right?

Content Warnings